I had learned that accepting an offer did not make me indebted to his opinion about everything afterward.

We were still capable of annoying each other.

He could ask the same question twice because he disliked the first answer.

I could hear an instruction in a sentence he meant as a suggestion.

When that happened, we talked about the actual sentence instead of borrowing Garrett’s explanation for our relationship.

That evening, there was nothing to untangle.

We sat with the mugs until Owen stirred.

Dad waited for me to say whether I wanted him to go first.