“Leo,” I said gently, “you don’t have to face this.

You’ve already done so much more than any twelve-year-old should ever have to do.

You can stay home.

You can go to Claudia’s.

This part is mine to handle.” He lifted his chin, and in that moment he looked so much like the man his father should have been that it took my breath.

“I want to go,” he said.

“And I’m not going to sit in the car.