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"Almost."

Her face held for one more second. Then it broke. She crossed the distance and wrapped her arms around me. I tried to remember the last time I'd actually seen her. The last time I'd been in the same room. It had been months before the divorce. The gray at her temples had spread, and the lines around her eyes were deeper. She'd aged, and I hadn't been around to notice.

"Oh, Alex. My boy."

"Mom, I'm thirty-four."

"I don't care if you're sixty." She pulled back and looked at me. "I'm so happy you're here."

"I'm happy to see you too, Mom."

Then she saw Janine behind me, and her face lit up.

"You must be Janine." She took Janine's hands. "Erin has told me everything about you."

"Mrs. Holloway. It's so good to finally meet you."

"Please call me Eileen." Then she looked down and crouched to Hazel's level. "And who is this?"

"My name's Hazel."

"Hazel." My mother's face softened. "I am so glad to finally meet you." She took Hazel's hand. "Come inside, sweetheart. Dinner's almost ready."

Janine looked up at me as we stepped through the door.

Erin's house smelled like roast turkey and cinnamon. The kids were running through the living room. Colin was pulling the turkey out of the oven, and Erin was behind him, already pointing at chairs and people, directing traffic the way she always did.

I stood in Erin's living room and tried to remember why I'd missed this. I told myself someone had to man the station. I couldn't remember a single one of those shifts. Not the calls, not the meals, not who I'd been sitting across from in the firehouse kitchen.

"Alex, stop standing there and come set the table." Erin shoved a stack of plates into my hands.

Dinner was loud. I sat at the table and ate. The table was too small for the number of people around it, chairs squeezed in, elbows bumping, dishes passed over kids' heads. Everyone was talking at once. My mother was at the head of the table, and she'd been waiting a long time for these chairs to be full.

Janine laughed at something Erin said. I watched her for a second. When she caught me looking, she smiled, and for a second I couldn't remember why I'd ever said no to these things.

After dinner, Erin brought out the pies. Hazel took her slice and ate it in four bites. Then she got up, cut a second slice, and carried it across the table to my mother without anyone telling her to.

"This one's for you," she said. "It's the bigger piece."

My mother looked down at the plate, then at Hazel. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Hazel went back to her seat like it was nothing. My mother's eyes stayed on her for a long time.

While the table cleared, Janine ended up in the kitchen with my mother. I could see them through the doorway. Janine was washing, my mother was drying, and they were talking like they'd known each other longer than a few hours.

When the house finally settled after dinner, my mother caught my arm in the hallway and steered me toward the back porch.

"Janine is lovely. And that little girl is something special."

"She is."

"How long has this been going on?"

"A while."

She nodded. She was quiet for a moment, and I could tell she was deciding how to say what she'd brought me out here to say.

"I'm going to ask you something, and I need you to answer me honestly."