“It simplifies it to say it was all because of her.”

“I know. It was a little thing that she did, in the long run. Compared to everyone else. Tyler moved back from Cali. Mary was over at the house every other day. You and Arthur have been Matty’s other parents. No question. And there’s no way I could thank you all for what you’ve done.”

“And you shouldn’t. We’re family.”

“Yeah. Well, Via wasn’t. And there was something about what she said and the way she said it, it just woke something up inside me. Something that wasn’t even awake before Cora died. She woke up this thing that had me wanting to try. No, not even wanting. Needing. I knew that I needed to try. And that there was no room to be scared. Or for disintegrating. All I could do was try to make things work for Matty.”

He stood and washed his hands at the sink. Muriel handed him a clean dishtowel.

“And you found your way back to her?”

He nodded. “She works at PS 128 now.” He paused. “I know she’s young. But I’ve gone on a few other dates and they...weren’t right. I just felt bad after them. I felt like I was better off alone than trying to make something like that work.”

Muriel turned away from Seb, and he was shocked when her shoulders wilted once and then rocked. She was crying.

“Muriel.” He put a hand on her shoulder. He was utterly aghast. God, had he told her too much? He hadn’t seen her cry since that horrible night in the hospital. She’d been waiting for Seb when he’d come out of the morgue. He’d identified Cora. And the two of them had utterly broken in two separate chairs. Unable to even look at one another.

“I’m sorry,” Muriel said, and Seb handed the dishtowel right back to her. She brushed tears from her face in a businesslike way. “I just got overwhelmed for a second. I was thinking about how Cora would feel if she knew you were dating. And at first it made me laugh and then I just...” She gestured at her teary eyes.

Seb teared up a little more, laughing through it. “She was very territorial. Even with someone she wasn’t all that jazzed about being married to.”

Muriel didn’t deny that he and her daughter hadn’t been the perfect match. And he was glad she didn’t. He could always count on her for her honesty. “Regardless. She wanted the best for Matty. Think about that, Sebastian. That was truly what she wanted. The best for Matty.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t you realize that she would have divorced you if she didn’t think you had it in you to be a good father?”

He whipped back, his shoulders contracting like a snail into its shell. The thought had never occurred to him before. “I—”

“A woman like Cora. So definite. So sure. Everything black and white and loud. She married you like that.” She snapped her fingers. “Don’t you think she would have left you in exactly the same manner if she hadn’t known you’d be good for Matty?”