She handled it better than I did. Riley turned from the photograph. How old was Sophie? Four. He wrapped both hands around his mug.
Sophie remembers her, but not the way I wish she did. She remembers the good things, the songs Lauren sang, the way she smelled, but she doesn't remember having a mom the way other kids have moms. She doesn't know what she's missing, exactly. She just knows something's different. She seems okay, Riley said carefully.
She's more than okay. She's remarkable. The word came out simple and complete, the way he said most things. But she's also seven, and she's never had a woman in her life who knows her. He stopped, started again differently.
She talks about you after you leave. Riley looked at her hands. She told me Gerald has approved of you, she said. I understand that's significant. Daniel almost smiled.
Gerald's approval is not easily given. I gathered. A silence. The log in the wood stove popped and settled. I don't know what's happening here, Daniel said.
Not accusatory, just honest, in the way he was always honest. I'm not looking for anything. I told myself I wasn't. Sophie needs stability, and I need to be the person who gives her that. And so I stopped.
I stopped. He made a gesture with one hand that seemed to mean all of it. But then you came, and she made you hot chocolate, and now I'm finding myself watching the road to see if your bike is coming. The words fell into the room. Riley's throat was tight.
Daniel, you don't have to say anything, he said quickly. I'm not I'm not asking you for anything. I know you live in Denver. I know you have a life there. I just wanted to be honest because I'm not good at at pretending I feel differently than I do.
She looked at him across the kitchen table, this quiet, careful man who fixed thing two things with his hands and made sure his daughter knew how to notice when people were cold, and she understood that she was in serious trouble. I'm watching the road, too, she said. He was still for a moment. Then he nodded once, slowly, the way he nodded when a piece of information had been filed correctly. Okay, he said.