I told her I would make no promises to Willa without speaking to her first.

She could set the pace.

I would cover reasonable costs through counsel, but only after the attorneys had worked out a way that did not give me control over Elena’s life.

We sat for a while watching a little boy collect fallen leaves.

She told me Willa loved astronomy, hated cooked carrots, and could recognize birds by their songs.

I told her about my father teaching me to fix a bicycle and my brother who lived in Seattle.

This was the oddest thing about the meeting: two people who had once slept in the same bed were introducing themselves as strangers because time had changed the terms of every question.