She's going to test whether you mean it. She won't do it on purpose. It's just how she's built. " "I know," Marcus said. "And you'll need to be patient. " "I'm patient," Marcus said. "You're stubborn," Robert said.
That's close, but it's not the same thing. Robert, I'm just being accurate. Robert Marcus said again. Steadier. I'm not asking your permission.
I'm telling you out of respect. You're my friend and she's your daughter and you deserve to hear it. The old man stood very still. Something was moving behind those blue eyes. Something large and slow.
The way glaciers move imperceptibly, but with the weight of everything. She hasn't been okay in a long time, Robert said quietly. She's better now. But she hasn't. She's been careful with herself and and careful with what she lets in.
And if something happens to make her more careful, nothing is going to happen, Marcus said. I'm not going anywhere. Another long silence. Robert looked at him. No, he said slowly.
I don't imagine you are. He stepped back. And then he did something Marcus had never seen him do before. He smiled. Not the ghost of one, not the almost.
A full real unguarded smile that changed his entire face and made him look for just a moment. 20 years younger. She texted me this morning, Robert said. She asked me what kind of man you were. Marcus felt something seize in his chest.
What did you tell her? Robert turned in and walked toward the kitchen. I told her you were the kind of man who fixes a fence without being asked. He said over his shoulder and that in my experience that tells you everything you need to know. Mark stood in the hallway.
He heard Robert putting the kettle on. He thought about a broken fence in the middle of a storm and an old man's shaking hands and a morning he'd almost let himself walk past without stopping. He thought about how close he'd come to not crossing the street. He walked into the kitchen. Robert set two mugs on the table outside.
The October sky had gone the deep particular blue that only comes in the late afternoon and somewhere in the neighborhood his daughters saters were getting home from sumschool and probably arguing about whose turn it was to pick the TV channel and Olivia Hayes was indicator 40 minutes south and had been asking her father about him and Marcus Williams sat down at an old veteran's kitchen table and thought for the first time in longer than he could remember. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Olivia called him that Saturday morning at 8:15. Not a text, a call. Marcus was in the kitchen making oatmeal and almost dropped the spoon when he saw her name on the screen because they'd been doing this careful measured thing where she texted and he texted back and neither of them had crossed into phone call territory yet.