Eleanor looked at him.
He had been a boy asking whether his father would return before dinner. He was a man now, but some frightened part of him had never left that hallway.
“You cannot spend the rest of your life punishing yourself,” she said.
“I don’t know how not to.”
“Then learn.”
He gave a broken laugh.
“That sounds like you.”
“It is.”
He walked to her, stopping just short of an embrace.
Eleanor opened her arms.
Michael bent over her, and she felt his body shake.
She held him, but not as she had held him when he was a child. This time she did not promise that everything would be all right. She did not tell him what to do next.
She simply stayed until he could stand alone.
The deputy took the last box to the car.
Claire came to the doorway.
“Dad?”
Michael wiped his face.
“Yeah?”
“Are we staying at a hotel?”
“For a few nights.”
“Could I stay with Grandma?”
Michael looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor answered before he could.
“If your father agrees.”
“I agree.”
Claire nodded.
Michael turned to Eleanor.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me for loving her.”
“I’m thanking you for giving me a chance to do better.”
