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I turn down the burner beneath the eggs.

“Did you find it?”

“If I move the bishop first, the knight can’t take it because the rook is pinned.”

“There you go.”

He studies the board for another second, then looks up at me.

“You knew that?”

“Absolutely not.”

Wells smiles, satisfied anyway.

The doorbell rings just as I slide the last piece of toast onto a plate.

“I’ll get it,” Miles says.

“You’ll walk,” I tell him.

He immediately slows down with exaggerated patience.

“Like this?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“This feels unnatural.”

“You’ll survive.”

I hear him open the front door before Hannah’s familiar voice carries down the hallway.

“Good morning, chaos committee,” Hannah says.

“Mom says I’m not allowed to run inside anymore,” Miles tells her.

Hannah appears in the kitchen a moment later, one eyebrow raised. “Anymore?”

“Apparently there was a rule.”

“There has always been a rule,” I say.

Hannah laughs as she sets her bag near the island. She has been helping me with the boys long enough that she doesn’t need instructions for an ordinary school morning. She handles drop-offs and pickups when my schedule makes both impossible, covers the hours between school and my getting home, and somehow remembers every early dismissal, practice change and school form before I do.

She glances at the clock. “You’ve got twenty-two minutes.”

“I know.”

Hannah looks at the boys. “Do they know?”

“They’ve been informed.”

Wells immediately closes the chessboard and slides it carefully into the front pocket of his backpack.

Miles looks at his breakfast.

“You still have half your eggs,” Hannah says.