"Of course."
Emily carefully lifted the model.
Her school was holding a science exhibition, and she wanted to build a display demonstrating how the position of the Earth and other planets affected what people could see through a telescope at different times of the year.
Her original design involved a rotating wooden platform.
She'd tried making it from cardboard, but the model kept collapsing.
Marcus examined it.
He could see that she'd thought carefully about the arrangement.
The problem wasn't her idea.
It was the materials.
"This is pretty ambitious," he said.
Emily frowned.
"Too ambitious?"
He shook his head.
"No. I like ambitious."
Her expression brightened.
"Really?"
"Really. We just need to make the structure strong enough to support what you're trying to show."
Emily looked toward the damaged cardboard.
For a moment, she seemed disappointed.
Then Marcus smiled.
"Come over tomorrow with your dad. We'll see what we can build."
She grinned.
"Can we make it rotate?"
"We can try."
"With the planets staying in place?"
Marcus laughed.
"Now you're making it complicated."
Emily smiled mischievously.
"You said you liked ambitious."
He shook his head.
"That's what I get for encouraging a scientist."
She hurried back toward the house.
Marcus watched her go, smiling.
For the first time in months, the fence between their homes felt like what it was supposed to be.
Not a boundary between people in conflict.
Just the edge of two properties where friends could call to one another on a sunny afternoon.
The next day, Emily arrived with Daniel and a large notebook filled with drawings.
Marcus cleared a section of his garage workbench.
The three of them spent the afternoon designing a wooden display with carefully arranged supports and a simple rotating platform. Marcus handled the tools that required adult supervision while explaining the basic measurements and construction principles.
Emily was responsible for the design decisions.
She chose the colors.
The placement of the planets.
And the size of the labels.
Daniel helped with the painting, though Emily repeatedly criticized his artistic skills.
"Dad, Saturn isn't orange like that."
Daniel examined his brush.
"Looks orange to me."
"It's more complicated."
Marcus laughed.
"She's the expert."
Daniel sighed dramatically.
"I've been replaced."
Emily grinned.
For several hours, the garage echoed with ordinary family laughter.
At one point, Marcus stepped outside to retrieve another board.
When he returned, he found Daniel and Emily arguing playfully about whether Pluto should appear on the display.
Daniel insisted that it deserved recognition.
Emily explained that it was classified as a dwarf planet.
Marcus set the board on the bench.
"How about we let Pluto stay in the family?"
Emily rolled her eyes.