Not your mom.

You.”

Holly turned the little box over in her hands, feeling its weight, not yet opening it.

“Is Grandma going to be mad at us?” she asked.

“She probably will be,” Brandon said.

He did not soften it; he has never lied to her, even to make a moment easier.

“She’s probably going to be very mad.” Holly was quiet for a second, and then she asked the question that undid me, the one I will hear in my head for the rest of my life, asked in the smallest voice she had.

“Will you still be my dad?