She looked at me for a moment, then nodded.

That evening, I returned to Noah’s room and found him wrestling a sock out of the hood of his sweatshirt.

“How did that get in there?”

“I was packing.”

“You were packing very efficiently.”

He gave me a small smile.

His bag was ready before the discharge decision was.

I let him keep it packed without promising that readiness would make the decision happen.