“What does it mean?” Daniel asked.
“It means,” Harold said, “that home isn’t the house. It’s the place you don’t want to leave.”
Daniel read that sign every Saturday for twelve years.
Then he grew up.
And I don’t think he ever looked at it again.
Daniel went to Arizona State. He studied business. He met Renee there. She was in nursing. Pretty. Organized. Ambitious. She kept a planner with colored tabs.
They married in 2012. They moved to Scottsdale. Daniel got a job in commercial real estate. Renee became a nurse manager at a hospital.
They had two children.
Chloe, who’s twelve now. Long dark hair. Her grandfather’s laugh. She reads everything.
And Caleb, who’s nine. Freckles. Missing a front tooth. Obsessed with lizards.
They bought a big house in north Scottsdale. Stucco. Tile roof. A pool. A three-car garage. A community gate with a guard.
