“Because adults make terrible mistakes sometimes, sweetie,” she said.

“Did he make a mistake?” “Yes.” “A big one?” “A very big one.”

Chapter 16 — The First Meeting

Their first meeting took place at a public park along the Charles River.

Alex arrived twenty minutes early, carrying nothing but a simple soccer ball, and only after texting Elena to ask whether even that was appropriate.

He was, for the first time in his adult life, deferring entirely to someone else’s judgment about what he was allowed to want.

The four children stood in a line and regarded him the way children regard a substitute teacher, with open, wary, unsentimental appraisal.