Chapter 22
Marcy ran one hand across the surface.
“You put the mark underneath.”
“What mark?”
She crouched.
On the underside of every piece of furniture I had ever made for family, I carved the same tiny thing.
A circle with a line through it.
Marcy had asked what it meant when she was little.
I told her it was my secret craftsman’s symbol.
The truth was less impressive.
It was the symbol she had drawn beside her name when she was five.
She stood.
“You still do that?”
“Always.”
Her eyes filled.
“So wherever I move, I have to take your furniture?”
“That’s the strategy.”
She hugged me.
Not because she was frightened.
Not because she needed rescuing.
Just because she loved me.
That distinction mattered.
Dustin left late that afternoon.
He and Marcy talked quietly near the building entrance before he got into his car.
I didn’t watch closely.
I was learning.
On the ride home, Linda was unusually quiet.
Finally, she said, “You okay?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
We drove another mile.
Then she added, “That’s probably how it’s supposed to feel.”
“I preferred when she lived six minutes away.”
“You complained she came over without calling.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“I know.”
We stopped for dinner halfway home.
Our booth felt too large.
For the first time in years, I understood that raising a child successfully eventually produced a strange reward.
An empty seat.
The weeks after Marcy left were harder than I expected.
I kept finding reasons to text her.
Did the desk wobble?
Had she found a mechanic?
Was her building radiator making that noise again?
She usually replied with patience.
Sometimes with photographs.
Her new office.
Lake Michigan beneath a gray October sky.
Coffee with Claire.
A badly assembled bookshelf.
Then, one evening, she called me.
“Dad.”
My body reacted before my mind did.
“What happened?”
She laughed.
“Nothing happened.”
“Then don’t say ‘Dad’ like that.”
“How am I supposed to say it?”
“More casually.”
“Dad.”
“Worse.”
She laughed again.
“I have news.”
“What?”
“I got promoted.”
“You’ve been there four months.”
“I know.”
May you like
“That seems suspicious.”
“Apparently I’m good at my job.”
