Don’t bring a solution you worked out before hearing the problem.”

“I won’t.”

For once, he meant it.

PART 5: What Naomi Remembered

At six the following evening, Frank turned his sign to CLOSED and left the two of them at a table near the back.

Naomi wore a green cardigan and carried a battered tote bag filled with school papers.

She looked tired, but her gaze was direct and steady.

“You always preferred this kind of place to the restaurants my mother booked,” Preston said.