Hazard nodded at his reflection in the window. Then he said, “Can we do this later?”

“I don’t think—”

“I don’t mean never. Just not when she’s here.”

Somers dabbed a floret in hummus, pretended to flick the dip at his daughter, and grinned when she squealed with a mixture of horror and laughter. At the sink, Hazard was now filling a pot, and he put the water on to boil. He got penne from the pantry, and from the refrigerator he took out a block of Parmigiano-Reggiano. At the counter, he grated the cheese by hand, which drew Evie’s attention, and then she was screaming for cheese, so Hazard brought her a slice. And, to Somers’s surprise, one for Somers as well.

“Because you’ve been good,” Hazard said, one of those almost-invisible Emery Hazard smiles at the corners of his mouth.

Somers squeezed his hand.

Evie lasted about five more minutes, and then Somers let her down and, against her instructions, turned off the TV. After a few minutes of sulking, she decided to set up her tent, which was a pink canvas confection that Hazard had purchased online somewhere—and had refused to say where, how he had found it, or how much it had cost. It had her name stitched in huge, curly letters along the back panel.

“Adult dinner is ready,” Hazard said from the kitchen, so while Evie played, Somers moved back to the dining room table. A plate of penne with Bolognese sauce and a mountain of cheese was waiting for him. “I was going to make pappardelle by hand; that’s better with a sauce like this.”

“I like penne,” Somers said, distributing the cheese with his fork. “Thank you for making dinner. Thank you for waiting.”

“Evie had a pretty substantial snack when we got home from school. She wasn’t hungry.”

Somers smiled as he speared penne. “I was pretty sure you weren’t starving her.”

“We read a book this afternoon. She played for forty-five minutes outside with Rocio and Raquel, and then I made them come inside and drink some water.”

Chewing the pasta and the rich meat sauce, Somers nodded. He had started a mental timer.

“Then I let them watch two episodes of Nella Knight.”

“That’s two shows about a knight in one day,” Somers said through a mouthful of pasta. After swallowing, he added, “She had The Bravest Knight on when I got home.”

“And then she wanted to help with dinner; we were supposed to have a salad too, so I let her wash the lettuce.”

As Somers raised the next bite of food, he caught Hazard’s eye. “This is a very thorough account of everything connected to Evie.”

A moment passed, and Hazard dropped his head, scrambling the food on his plate. “I don’t want you to think that I wasn’t able to take care of her because . . .”

“I don’t think that,” Somers said. “I almost said obviously, but I guess it’s not obvious.”

After dragging the fork through his food a few more times, Hazard pushed the plate away. “It was the window breaking.”