Mrs. Palmer’s blue key went to the retired nurse six houses away.
Frank insisted Liam keep the green one.
“I asked him to,” Frank told me firmly.
That mattered.
Later, we stopped across from Liam’s father’s old apartment building.
He sat staring at the entrance.
I didn’t tell him it wasn’t his fault.
He already knew that.
Knowing wasn’t the problem.
Eventually Liam started the SUV, then switched it off again.
“Can you drive?”
I looked at him.
“Yeah.”
He handed me the keys.
When we finally got home, I parked and carried two grocery bags toward the porch.
Liam reached automatically into his pocket.
Then the other one.
“Meryl.”
“Hmm?”
“The house key.”
I held it up.
He stepped toward me, then stopped.
For once, he wasn’t the person with the backup.
He wasn’t the one opening the door.
A smile slowly appeared on his face.
