Sophie slid off her chair, climbed up on my lap, and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“Somebody missed you,” Anna said. The whites of her eyes were spiderwebbed red from crying or lack of sleep. She offered me her french fries. I motioned a no-thanks.

All that practice, and I still didn’t know what to say, except: “So what brings us to this part of Brooklyn?”

“The bargains,” Anna said, not missing a beat. She smiled.

Good, I thought. At least she can still smile. “I didn’t know you liked Arby’s.”

“This is Sophie’s favorite place to eat.”

Judging by the untouched food left on Sophie’s tray, she’d lost her appetite. And now she was asleep.

“You’ve still got the touch.”

I looked away. On the floor, a plastic packet of ketchup had been stepped on, making an irregular circle of red. I blurted out, “It could happen to anyone, you know that, don’t you? Any of us, any parent, one little turn of the head, one glance in the wrong direction . . .”

That was all it took for Anna to crack open. Mostly, she blamed herself. It was heartbreaking. She also blamed Philip. “We didn’t need all those doctors and medical tests. Two MRIs. Just because he paid for half the hospital.”

“You can never be too careful—”

She even blamed Kate.

“What did Kate do?”

“She came to my house, got so mad at me. Squeezed my arm so hard I can still see the finger marks.”

“I don’t understand . . .”

“I was sitting there at the park, trying to figure out why she was so angry at me, and I wasn’t paying attention to Sophie . . . does she suspect something?”

“Kate? No, I don’t think so.”

“You didn’t tell her about us.”

“Never.”

“Then why was she so rude?”

“She’s had a hard time lately. Lost her job. And she really liked her job.”

“Oh, that explains it,” Anna said. She seemed relieved. “So, Tim, let’s talk about our weekend.”

Our weekend? “Oh my God,” I said, “I’d forgotten about it.” It was sort of true. Since I’d been sitting there, I hadn’t thought about the Weekend once.

“You seem pleased with yourself.”

Yes, it was one of those moments when you realize you’re not an entirely bad guy. I was pleased with myself.

“Tell me, Tim, why do you think we’re meeting?”

“Well,” I said, “I thought you might need a friend.”

“Oh, no.” Anna laughed. “Hardly.” She glanced at her watch. “There’s a new hotel in the city I’d like to try.”

Oh, here we go.

“Unless you have another idea,” she said.

“No, sounds fine, great.”

“Should I book us a room?”

“Whatever you think is best.”

This is really happening.