Funny, that thing I’d said was not worth all the fuss? As forgettable as it was, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Why had we done it? Wasn’t it supposed to be about love? I did love Kane, in the pervasive, unmindful way that you love your own hands. I knew life would be shit without him. But maybe that wasn’t love. Maybe that was dependence.

It was a humid day, one that makes everything stick together with sweat and everyone grumble. When my father drove me home from day camp at the local Y, he was harrumphing about how my mother hadn’t picked up his dry cleaning before they closed that day. We both just wanted to get home, but we couldn’t pull into the cul-de-sac because a huge moving truck was parked in the narrow opening, which made him mutter more. He ended up driving over the curb in his frustration, and I could see Kane sitting on his front porch steps, bouncing a ball and looking miserable in the way he would when he was alone and didn’t have to put on his charming airs. I rushed across to see what was going on.

When I got there, Kane said, “He got married.”

I was stunned. “Who?” popped out of my mouth before I could train my lips how to respond.

“Donald Trump. Who do you think? My dad. It wasn’t a business trip. He went there to meet her, and then they got hitched in Vegas on the way here.”

My mouth gaped. Kane’s dad wasn’t what you’d call a free spirit. He was a quiet, background IT guy prone to tinkering. The type of person you’d expect to carry an assortment of extra computer parts and cables on his person at all times. Steady, not one to do anything worthy of gossip. “Wow.”

Kane mumbled under his breath and stood up. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”

He threw the ball so hard against the pavement that it bounced over our heads but didn’t touch ground again. It must have rolled up onto the roof and into the gutter. He cursed some more. I was beginning to understand his rage. His dad had gone on vacation without him, which would be enough to get me riled. But bringing home a new mom? I’d probably never speak to my dad again.