“He wanted the land,” Vance said.

I believed the land mattered to him.

The school forms, tickets, and purchase documents made that difficult to deny.

I did not tell Ethan that his father had wanted money instead of him.

That would have made the child carry another adult conclusion.

During those weeks, Ethan sometimes asked a practical question just before bed: where a toy had gone, whether Dad knew the date of the nature center visit, whether he could still like the treehouse in the other yard.

“You can like a treehouse,” I told him.