She requested a hotel rather than staying with me.
Another good decision.
No forced intimacy.
No pretending lost decades vanished because we shared blood.
I met her at the train station.
For one strange second, seeing her felt like seeing Lily grown older.
The same eyes.
The same eyebrow.
The same dimple.
Claire stood ten feet away.
Neither of us moved.
Then she said, “You got tall.”
I laughed.
“Apparently.”
“I remember you being about this size.”
She held a hand near her hip.
“I was five.”
“You were extremely bossy.”
“I’m still bossy.”
“I was afraid of that.”
Then we hugged.
It wasn’t cinematic.
No music.
No perfect sense of restoration.
Her coat smelled faintly of cedar.
She was trembling.
So was I.
That was enough.
Lily loved her instantly.
Mostly because Claire arrived carrying a telescope.
“Are you Santa Claus too?” Lily asked.
Claire looked confused.
Stephen nearly choked on his coffee.
