The restaurant was packed with people. I scanned the crowd and spotted Caleb at a table by himself in the corner. I hurried past the hostess, and he rose to meet me. He gave me the hug I’d been waiting for all day. I hadn’t seen him in almost seven months. It was the longest we’d ever been apart, but he was buried in his internship at one of the law firms downtown and barely had time to breathe. We didn’t usually go out for dinner when he visited, since he preferred my cooking, but there was no way I was having him over to the house tonight. We had all been walking on eggshells around each other, and having an awkward sit-down dinner with everyone was the last thing I wanted to do.

“You look tired,” he said, pulling out my chair.

I laughed. “Thanks so much, son.”

He lifted his palms up. “Well, at least I’m honest.”

He had ordered me a glass of merlot, and his sat in front of him half-empty. A brush with alcoholism in his teens had terrified me, and I had kept an eye on his drinking ever since. It’d scared him bad enough to keep him sober for a decade, but in recent years he’d started drinking again. He swore it was only socially and he didn’t have a problem. Only time would tell.

“You need a haircut,” I said, taking a sip of my wine. I didn’t like when he wore his hair long. It made his nose look too big for his face.

“I’m growing it out.” He smirked at me, knowing how I felt about his long hair.

“Have you talked to Thad?” I asked. I’d barely spoken to him all week.

“Mom, please, can we just get to the good stuff? We can talk about Thad any time.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” I said. Not to mention I couldn’t remember what I’d told him and what I’d told his brother. I took another sip of my wine.

“Are they out of your house yet?” he asked, referring to the FBI’s command center.

“Not yet. Monday. That’s when everything changes,” I said.