This time she paused beside me without offering one.

“Goodnight, Claire.”

“Goodnight.”

She looked toward Noah, who was lying on his stomach beside the castle, moving the dinosaur through a doorway too small for it.

“Tell him I loved his crown.”

“You can tell him.”

She seemed surprised, then went to him.

He let her kiss his forehead and told her the crown had survived everything except a balloon accident.