“Well, it ought to be. When I move on from something, I move on. As far as I’m concerned, it never happened.”

“It did happen. David is real. He’s part of the story.”

“You need to forget it, Melissa.”

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him and wonder what he’s like, what he’s interested in, what he looks like.”

Brian shook his head. “You can’t drive a car looking in the rearview.”

“You can’t keep secrets all your life. They’ll eat you up inside. They’ll tear other people apart too.” She looked out the window. “At some point you’ll need to tell her.”

“At some point you’ll need to let go of it.” He released his hold on the door and stepped toward her, pointing a finger. “Don’t you ever tell Azure. You hear me?”

“So she doesn’t know?”

“I mean it, Melissa!”

Both hands up, Melissa said, “That’s between you and her. But at some point, I’m going to tell Courtney. And when I do—”

“You leave her out of it too,” Brian said, his face red. “There’s no reason to drag her into our mistakes.”

“Is that what you think he was? You think David was a mistake?”

“You know what I mean. We messed up. But you went and did what you thought was right, and because of that he’s got a life and people who are taking care of him.”

“How would you know? You don’t even think about him.”

“Don’t tell me what I think and don’t think.”

Melissa heard a noise and turned to see Courtney peeking around the corner, her thumb in her mouth, the other hand cradling her new doll.

“You like your dolly?” Brian said.

Courtney nodded.

Melissa turned back to Brian and glared at him. He avoided eye contact and spoke to Courtney.

“I’ll come by Saturday and pick you up, okay?”

Courtney stared at him.

Brian walked out the door, giving Melissa a final look that said as much as his words could ever convey. The slamming door made Courtney jump.

Jimmy tried to include David in as much of his life as he could. He took him to work with him once a month and David enjoyed the extra attention. The three of them camped and fished, but there were times when Jimmy and David went alone, just guy time. But Jimmy didn’t want every outing to be a planned “fun” time. He knew from his own childhood that doing mundane, ordinary things with his father gave them time together and presented opportunities that couldn’t be planned. Conversations about life and friendships and work and God often came at unguarded, unexpected moments.