Not that you didn’t want him.”

The qualification mattered.

“What did you suggest?”

“That it was complicated.”

It was one of those words adults used when they wanted a child to stop asking a question the adults had failed to answer.

I thought about how often Patrick had told me Samantha preferred a simple life, did not want fuss, was not ready for a family gathering.

He had not necessarily said something entirely false in each sentence.