“I own businesses. I’m familiar with disappointing quarterly results.”
“That is the most businessman answer possible.”
“I’m working on it.”
She looked down.
“What if I get accepted somewhere else later?”
“Then you go.”
“What if I don’t want Northbridge?”
“Then you don’t stay.”
“What if my mom doesn’t agree with you about something?”
“Based on my experience with your mother, I assume she’ll tell me.”
That finally earned a real smile.
Then Maya became serious again.
“I don’t want Sophie thinking I’m replacing anyone.”
I understood immediately.
Claire.
“You aren’t.”
“And I don’t want her thinking I’m her sister.”
“All right.”
“She told somebody in math club I was practically her sister.”
I closed my eyes.
“I’ll speak to her.”
“She also told them I’m a genius.”
“Less concerning.”
“It’s inaccurate.”
“You scored ninety-eight on the advanced placement exam.”
“I missed two points.”
“You may need professional help.”
She laughed.
It was the first time we spoke without Claire’s ghost standing entirely between us.
Not absent.
Just no longer directing every sentence.
That evening, Elena joined us at our house.
It was the first time she and Maya had visited.
Sophie tried to give an official tour.
“This is the kitchen. Dad knows where almost nothing is.”
“I know where things are.”
She opened a drawer.
“Where are the spoons?”
I pointed confidently.
She opened it.
Dish towels.
Maya laughed.
Elena tried not to.
Our house, which had seemed painfully quiet for two years, suddenly contained overlapping voices.
Sophie asked Maya to see her room.
Maya looked at Elena.
“Door stays open,” Elena said.
“Mom.”
“Door.”
“Fine.”
They disappeared upstairs.
Elena and I remained in the kitchen.
“I heard about the sponsor requirement,” she said.
“I was going to call you.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Maya called me immediately.”
I nodded.
“You should decide.”
“We should decide.”
“She’s your daughter.”
“And you’d be taking responsibility.”
I appreciated the distinction.
We sat at the kitchen island.
Elena looked around.
There were still photographs of Claire everywhere.
I had stopped seeing how many.
“You loved her a lot.”
“Yes.”
“She talked about you.”
“So I’ve discovered.”
Elena smiled.
“She worried about you.”
“That too.”
“Not because she thought you were cold.”
I looked at her.
“People probably think that.”
“Some.”
“I am sitting here.”
