Still, he hesitates. We’re both relieved I’m home. Although I’ve only been gone six months, and I was here for Christmas, our connection is already fading. I mean, Lawrence is my dad. He’ll always be my dad. But our day-to-day routine is over. Now, I’m a visitor, a young woman whose other life, her real life, doesn’t include him. So, we breathe for a minute, father and daughter, thinking about Billy; and, also, about us.

“Let’s start again.” Lawrence steps into the room. A beat later, I feel the mattress dip as he sits down, and then his hand touching my back. “I’m glad to see you, Cassie. I’m losing my mind. Yesterday was like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.”

I turn over. Seeing Lawrence on the edge of my bed, I feel a hitch in my chest. A valve opens, pressure releases, and tears burn my throat. “I’m worried about Billy,” I say.

“We all are.” Holding out his arms, Lawrence beckons to me like I’m still a little kid. I shrug off the covers and lean forward. My guard falls away. I bury my face in his shoulder.

“Thanks for rushing home,” he says as he hugs me. “It hasn’t been the same here without you.”

I wait for him to say more, to make a crack about how clean the house is now that I live elsewhere. He doesn’t, but I know what he’s thinking. Whereas Eleanor is supportive of my move to New Haven, Lawrence has mixed feelings about it. Yale is prestigious, the distance is fine, but six more years of school? And a PhD? “What about the foundation?” he asked last May when I announced my plans. “Why the sudden change of heart?” I couldn’t talk about Marcus, so I told him the partial truth, which was that I felt suffocated, and needed to be on my own. This, he could understand, if not accept. The five of us are always together. Our life is grand and glorious, but also a trap. Money is a noose that yokes children and parents together in ways you can’t anticipate. It binds you for life and then some. Even if my brothers and I go through the motions of adulthood—college, job, apartment, marriage—we must never forget where our true allegiance lies. What about the family? Lawrence kept asking. What about us? “Please, Lawrence,” I told him. “You can’t pull me back. I’m already gone.”

A second later, my eyes flood. Soon, I’m crying so hard I soak his shirt.

“Hey, hey, hey, Sweetheart,” Lawrence says, patting my hair. “Your brother will be fine. This is all a big mistake. The right lawyer will correct it.” When I wipe my nose on my arm, he stands up and whips out a handkerchief like a magician. “Use this. Or just drip snot everywhere. Your choice.”