Old worries surface. I still find myself feeling inferior, the misfit, the one who gets picked last. Oh God. Does Molly feel inferior, or did I teach her better? I check her out to see if she’s self-conscious about the car. But no. Molly’s oblivious as she makes her way inside. She couldn’t care less what the car looks like, what state is on the license plate.

I call Dan. I’ve never been a big fan of mobile phones, but right now, I love my cell phone so much I would marry it. It’s proof that someone wants to talk to you. It saves you from having to loiter in a strange place, trying to appear as though you belong.

Molly called him this morning to talk about Travis. He doesn’t sound surprised. We backed off and she made her own choice.

“We’re here,” I tell Dan. “It’s amazing.”

“How’s our girl doing?”

“She didn’t have much to say about Travis. We’re not talking about it yet. I’m hoping she’ll just focus on getting settled here.” My gaze skips over the quad, currently an anthill of activity as students move in en masse. “Looks like there’s plenty to keep her busy.” I take a breath. “Speaking of which, I had a thought.”

“Lindy, not another orphan.”

“No. Not now, anyway. Saying goodbye to Molly is making me crazy, I admit it. What I’ve been thinking about is that I need a new life when I get back.”

“Something wrong with your old life?”

“Not at all, but without Molly there, I need a plan. So I thought… Don’t freak out.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m going to talk to Minerva about the shop.”

“What do you mean, talk to her?”

“About taking over the shop. She’s retiring, and I thought maybe… I could see if I can qualify for a small-business loan and…” I falter. Spoken aloud, it sounds silly. “Anyway, maybe it’s a crazy idea, but I think I can make it work.”

Silence.

“Dan?” I wait for him to tell me how foolish I’m being, especially now, with a kid in college.

“You can make anything work, Linda.”

It’s the last thing I expected to hear from him. “Really?”

“Hell, yeah. Don’t sound so surprised.”

“But…you never… I never knew you felt that way.”

“Sweetheart, I’ve always felt that way about you. Just because I didn’t say it every day doesn’t mean the sentiment’s not there.”

“You were such a skeptic about my last idea—”

“Adopting an orphan? Come on, Linda. This is hardly the same. This is something you want for you, not to fill some void left by Molly.”

I shut my eyes, catch my breath. When did I stop knowing this man? I never did; I just let the busy part of life get in the way. “Thank you.”