Iris swallows past the lump in her throat. She hears footsteps on the stairs and sees Grant coming down in his old pajama pants and last year’s Austin City Limits Festival shirt that Kyle bought him, worn and thin. For the first time since he found out about Danielle, Grant smiles, for just a moment, and comes down and hugs Mike, who awkwardly hugs him back.

“Chlapec,” Mike calls him, a Slovak word for “boy” or “lad,” his hearty nickname for Grant. “How are you? You taking good care of your sister and mama?”

Grant nods. “I am so sorry about Danielle,” he says quietly. “I know how much you loved her. I loved her, too. I wouldn’t have my family without her.”

Mike leans down, puts a hand on his shoulder. Iris can see tears in his eyes. “You know she loved you, yes? She helped bring you to this better life. Your happiness was a reminder of the good job she did.”

Grant starts to cry, and Iris’s heart shifts in her chest. But she stands there frozen while Mike pats her son’s shoulder and comforts him.

“What are you going to do now?” Grant asks.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to go back to Canada?”

“I will stay here. This is my home now.” He looks up at Iris. “My friends are here, the ones I like to see every day. Like you.”

Grant wipes the tears from his face.

“Don’t cry, chlapec. When we are feeling better, we will go fishing, OK?”

Grant nods.

“I did not mean to upset you. I’m going to go check on Ned, but maybe I’ll see you later. I just want to know you are all right. And Julia, and your mom and dad.”

Grant nods again. Mike is better with him than Kyle is, Iris thinks, and then she shoves the thought away because it feels deeply disloyal. But it’s true.

“We’re bringing you dinner tonight,” Iris says. “What do you and the boys want?”

“Anything is fine. We don’t feel like eating so much. We appreciate everyone helping with the dinner schedule.”

“I’ll bring some wine, too.”

Mike says, “If I get drunk, I’ll break all the windows.” His voice has gone low and soft again. “I want to find who did this.”

Grant is silent, and he glances at his mother.

“That’s what the police are for,” she says.

“Why does someone take a woman’s life like it is nothing, when it is everything?”

His words silence them.

Mike rubs the top of Grant’s bedhead hair and gives Iris a quick hug. “I don’t want to be gone if Ned wakes up,” he says. “I’ll see you both later, yeah?”

Iris walks him to the door and watches him go, heading down the road and turning into a cul-de-sac. He doesn’t look back.