“Oh, Tobias,” Madigan said softly.

“It’s okay. I accepted it a long time ago. People make bad decisions, and the rest of the world is left to live with them.” He knew that all too well. “Anyway, as you can imagine, after she died, things pretty much sucked. I told you how anxious Carrie was, but that was just the start of it. Our mother’s absence left a gaping hole in our lives. The house was too quiet, my father was resentful that she’d lied to him and hadn’t taken care of herself, and I think my sister and I felt that way too for a while. Her death felt like a living, breathing thing in the house that we couldn’t talk about around my father because it upset him, which made it worse. My father did his best to hold us together, but he worked a lot, and I took care of Carrie.”

“Did you and Carrie talk about your mom?”

“Yeah, and that helped some, but Carrie is four years younger than me, and she was only nine. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing because she’d get so upset.”

“Is that when you started writing?”

He nodded. “My grandfather stepped in when he could, teaching me to play guitar and refusing to let us forget a single thing about our mother. I listened to all of his stories, but like you, I found it easier to write than to share what I was feeling. He’s been my savior in a lot of ways, consistently supporting my decisions, even when my father didn’t.” Guilt for leaving his grandfather tightened in his chest.

“Your grandfather is Hank Pettazzoni, right? He lives at LOCAL?” Madigan asked softly.

“Yes.”

“I just started working with him. Did you ask Elsa to get him into my program?”

He nodded, relieved that she’d taken him on as a client. “The first time we met. Thank you for working with him. How is he?”

“Good. We only had one introductory meeting so far. He thought I was Carrie, but he played his guitar for me, and when I showed him my puppets, he thought one looked like you and told me all about his grandson who wrestled and boxed and took great care of his little sister. I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Tobias smiled. “He came to all my high school wrestling and boxing matches. He’s the reason I came here after I got out of prison, but I’ll get to that. I want you to know how things evolved.”

“I appreciate that.”