(Cole)
They arrived the following afternoon.
I heard the car from the study and looked out the window and watched my parents get out in the driveway, Mom first, already looking up at the house with the expression she had when she was taking stock of something, and Dad behind her, slower, more measured, the way he always moved.
I went downstairs.
Lena was already at the door.
I hadn't told her to be there. She had just appeared, the way she did when she sensed something needed her presence, standing in the doorway with the composure she brought to everything that mattered.
I stood beside her.
Mom came up the path first. She was smaller than I remembered, which happened every time I saw her after a long stretch away, and her hair was more grey than it had been the last time. She looke
