Please. They went inside. Sophia, to her credit, did not bolt when three people walked through the kitchen door. She looked up from the laptop, saw James, saw the small woman behind him, who was clearly his mother, saw the child, and she did the thing that James remembered her being very good at. She got composed fast in the face of something she hadn't expected.
She stood up. Hi, she said. I'm Sophia. I'm sorry for I didn't know. Sophia Mitchell, Evelyn said.
The kitchen went very still. Sophia's expression shifted. Yes, ma'am. Evelyn Carter looked at this woman for a period of time that felt significantly longer than it probably was. Then she said in the particular tone she reserved for things she had decided about and would not be changing her mind on.
James, you and I are going to talk shortly. Yes, ma'am. James said, I'm Ava. Ava announced stepping around her grandmother. She walked directly up to Sophia, which was completely in character.
And looked at her with frank investigative interest. My dad says, "You have a baby." Sophia blinked. Then something in her face softened in a way that James had not seen yet. I do.
He's sleeping right now. His name is Noah. Can I see him when he wakes up? Ava, James said. What?
I'm just asking. It's okay. Sophia said. She was almost smiling. Yes, you can see him when he wakes up.
Ava nodded satisfied as if this had been a negotiation and she had won it. She turned to her father. Dad, can I have a snack? James pointed at the pantry. Ava went to the pantry.
Evelyn looked at her son and said with complete composure, "Living room." They went to the living room. His mother sat in the armchair. His armchair the ones the one he'd sat in last night while he was looking across the room at Sophia and James sat on the couch and they looked other with the specific loaded look of a mother and a son who know each other well enough to skip the preamble. She's the one who left.
Evelyn said yes. Six years ago. Yes. And now she's here with a baby that is or is not. Is not.