“I love my family more,” he said, and he didn’t pause, not even a little, not even to breathe.

It was the most certain I had ever heard him about anything.

“I already took a job.

Flight instructor, out at the airfield about twenty miles from here.

Steady hours, stays put, home every night.

I’m going to help you pay for college, Leo — you’re not going to work yourself to the bone through school on top of everything else, not while I’m around.

And I’m going to be the one who takes Grandma to her appointments now.