Chapter 17
Alex came by the following week.
Not as a detective.
As my friend.
He brought pizza.
Lily was upstairs doing homework when he sat at our kitchen table with Sarah and me.
“How are you two holding up?”
“Depends on the hour,” I said.
He nodded.
“That sounds about right.”
Sarah asked, “Is Jared blaming us?”
Alex hesitated.
“That’s not something I can discuss in detail.”
“Which means yes.”
He smiled faintly.
“I didn’t say that.”
She understood anyway.
Alex took a drink of water.
“Listen. The legal process is one part of this. Don’t let it become your whole life.”
“That’s difficult,” I said.
“I know.”
“It feels unfinished.”
“It may feel unfinished for a while.”
Sarah looked toward the stairs.
“What do we do with that?”
“Build something that matters more.”
The sentence stayed with me.
That night after Alex left, I wrote it on a sticky note.
Build something that matters more.
I put it on the refrigerator.
Lily saw it the next morning.
“What does that mean?”
I thought for a second.
“It means if something bad takes up too much space in your head, you make good things bigger.”
She nodded seriously.
Then she added another sticky note underneath.
Pancakes.
I laughed.
“What?”
“Pancakes are good things.”
Sarah added one.
Movie nights.
I added another.
Saturday bike rides.
By the end of the week, half the refrigerator was covered.
Library trips.
Grandpa-style grilled cheese.
Summer beach vacation.
Mom dancing badly in the kitchen.
Dad pretending he can fix plumbing.
Lily crossed out “pretending.”
That little wall of notes became our first family project after Claudia.
Not revenge.
May you like
Not anger.
A list of things worth protecting.
