“Yes.”
“I’m still mad.”
Luke smiled.
“Welcome to loving dead people.”
Mia frowned.
“That sounds terrible.”
“It can be.”
Then she hugged him.
At thirteen, Mia began helping Clare’s nonprofit with youth panels.
Luke was skeptical.
Clare asked permission first now.
Growth.
Mia spoke to adults reconnecting with siblings after decades.
Her advice was simple.
“Don’t expect the person you find to act like the person you imagined.”
Clare stared when she heard it.
“Where did you learn that?”
Mia shrugged.
“You.”
Clare cried in the car afterward.
At fifteen, Mia asked Clare why she never married.
Clare almost choked.
Luke pretended not to listen.
“I was busy.”
“That’s fake.”
Clare stared.
“You’re becoming your father.”
“Answer.”
Clare thought.
“I dated.”
“Badly?”
“Frequently.”
“Did finding family make you stop?”
“No.”
“It made me less willing to choose people because they fit my life on paper.”
Mia nodded.
“Dad does that too.”
Luke looked over.
“Why am I included?”
“You haven’t dated anyone in forever.”
“That is not your business.”
“It affects household demographics.”
Clare laughed so hard she almost fell from the chair.
Luke glared at both.
Eventually Luke did date.
A teacher named Hannah Lewis.
Widowed herself.
Kind.
Patient.
Completely unimpressed by Clare.
That helped.
The first time Clare met Hannah, Clare asked:
“What do you teach?”
“Seventh-grade science.”
Clare nodded.
“That sounds terrifying.”
Hannah replied:
“I’ve seen your board meetings online.”
“Same species.”
Luke knew immediately they would get along.
He and Hannah moved slowly.
Mia approved after pretending she did not.
Clare approved after over-researching Hannah’s background.
Luke discovered this.
They had their first genuine fight.
“You ran a background check?”
“Basic.”
“She is a middle-school teacher.”
“Exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Access to children.”
“Clare.”
“I’m protective.”
“You’re intrusive.”
Silence.
Clare looked ashamed.
“You’re right.”
Luke stared.
“You need to stop making it difficult to stay angry.”
“Leadership skill.”
“No.”
Clare apologized to Hannah directly.
Hannah said:
“If it helps, I googled you.”
Clare stared.
“Did you find anything?”
“An alarming number of magazine covers.”
They became friends.
Luke eventually married Hannah.
Not replacing Rachel.
Nothing could.
Family expanded rather than exchanged.
At the wedding, Clare sat beside Margaret and Evelyn.
Mia gave a speech.
She talked about her mother.
Her father.
Hannah.
Then Clare.
“My family keeps adding people in weird ways.”
Everyone laughed.
“Some people were always family and didn’t know.”
“Some became family because they chose us.”
“Some are family because Dad is incapable of saying no to women who show up with car problems.”
Luke covered his face.