Matt was sitting in a wheelchair next to his bedroom window, staring glassy-eyed outside. The left side of his face drooped, a line of drool dripping down his chin. He looked tiny and frail, but at least he was up and out of bed. It was a damn sight better than what Nate had expected, seeing as he’d had pneumonia last week.

“Hey, Dad.”

Nate kissed the top of his head and used a tissue to wipe the drool away. Matt didn’t look at him. Sometimes Nate wondered if his dad even knew he was there. But his mom was right: it was time he stopped hiding from what his father had become and accepted him for who he was now.

He tucked a faded blue blanket over Matt’s lap and wheeled him to a corner table in the nursing home’s indoor garden.

He sat down, moving the old Nokia he’d found in the briefcase from his trouser pocket to his coat, a reminder to stop by Best Buy and grab a charger for it.

After a minute he started talking. He told Matt how Josh was, how Moira was coping, and how proud he was of Emma’s work.

“Mom told me about the dealers. The money,” he said. “I can’t figure out if I should be grateful to you or…” Hate you, he finished silently. He stared at his hands, not sure where to go from there.

“Unhh.” The unexpected sound startled Nate. Matt was trying to move, trying to roll his neck.

“Are you okay, Dad?” Nate knelt in front of his father, and for just a second, a fleeting, beautiful second, Matt met his gaze.

“Unhh.” A solitary tear dripped from the corner of Matt’s eye. Nate watched it slide down the roughened, wrinkled skin and plop onto the blanket on his lap. “Unhh.”

Nate grasped his father’s bony hand. “I know, Dad.” He pressed his forehead to his father’s, swallowing back tears. “I know. You did your best to take care of us. I get it.”

Matt’s eyes fluttered shut, as if he didn’t have the strength to keep them open any longer. They’d lapsed into silence when a woman approached.

“Nate? Remember me?”

It was Robbie’s mom, Marsha Sadler.

“Mrs. Sadler. Yes, of course I remember. Here, sit here.” Nate pulled over another chair.

She sat next to him. “I wasn’t sure you did; you ran out of the grocery store so fast when I saw you the other day!”

“Sorry, I had a call. Work.” He gestured to his suit and tie. “I’m a detective.”

“Yes, I heard. Wade told me you’re a fine detective. You’re married to that doctor now.”

“Wade?” Nate barely remembered Robbie’s dad.