THE GOODBYE HE MISSED
"Can we go to the bookshop?"
They went. The shop occupied a converted house three streets over, with a resident dog named Duchess who greeted Noah by name and a whole shelf dedicated to field guides that Noah navigated with the confidence of a regular. He selected three books with careful deliberation — one on Pacific Northwest raptors, one a slim volume on migratory patterns he'd apparently been eyeing for weeks, and a third that surprised Adrian: a novel about a woman who builds something from nothing, its cover showing a small house under construction against a wide sky.
"That one's for Mom," Noah said, setting it on the counter with the others. "She'll like it. Because she's Mom."