“I was defending Sophie.”
“Obviously.”
“Stop smiling.”
“I’m not.”
She absolutely was.
Winter arrived.
The first snow made Sophie insist on building a lopsided snowman exactly between the two houses.
“Why there?”
Jack asked.
“So he lives with everybody.”
Neither adult had an answer to that.
Christmas created new problems.
Sophie wanted Elena present Christmas morning.
Jack hesitated.
Elena said immediately, “No.”
Sophie looked betrayed.
“Why?”
“Because that morning belongs to you and Dad.”
“But I want you.”
Elena crouched.
“Then how about I come for breakfast?”
Sophie thought.
“And presents?”
Elena smiled.
“I have one.”
“What?”
“That ruins it.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes.
“Fine.”
Christmas morning, Elena arrived at nine carrying cinnamon rolls and one medium-sized box.
Sophie tore it open.
Inside was a telescope.
Her mouth fell open.
Jack stared.
“You remembered.”
Elena smiled.
“The stars.”
When Sophie was a baby, Elena used to carry her to the backyard and talk about constellations as though an infant cared.
Later Jack had continued.
Sophie loved space.
She threw her arms around Elena.
This hug lasted.
Elena closed her eyes.
Jack looked away.
After breakfast, Sophie ran upstairs for gloves.
Elena stood by the kitchen counter.
“This is the first Christmas morning I’ve seen her awake.”
Jack looked at her.
She smiled, but tears gathered.
He crossed the room.
Without planning it, he hugged her.
Elena froze.
Then held him.
Not romantic.
Not exactly.
Two people mourning the same seven years from opposite sides.
When they separated, neither spoke.
That was the first moment Jack believed they might someday become something again.
He immediately distrusted the thought.
Their old relationship had not been perfect.
Memory had polished it because loss preferred simple shapes.
Before Elena disappeared, they argued about money.
Work.
Her long hours.
Jack’s tendency to fix other people’s problems rather than discuss his own.
Elena’s anxiety.
His impatience with it.
They had loved each other.
They had also been twenty-something adults learning badly.
Reuniting could not mean pretending time stopped.
Elena understood.
She never asked him to resume where they ended.
Months passed.
Spring came.
Sophie’s eighth birthday became the first one Elena attended since infancy.
She arrived early.
Helped decorate.
Jack watched her hang paper planets from the ceiling.
“You made Saturn crooked.”
“It has rings. Nothing is crooked in space.”
“That is not science.”
“You repair cars.”
“I understand alignment.”
Sophie shouted from the living room, “Stop flirting!”
Both froze.
Jack stared at Elena.
Elena turned red.
“We are not.”
Sophie appeared.
“You’re smiling weird.”
Jack pointed upstairs.
“Go find socks.”
“I’m already wearing socks.”
“More socks.”
She laughed and disappeared.
Elena covered her face.
“This child.”
“Your genetics.”
“Absolutely yours.”
The birthday party went well.
Then one classmate asked Sophie, “Why did your mom come back?”
The room changed.