Spring.
The children were in full bloom. James's social world had expanded to a circle that Kade described as impressive and I described as exhausting in the best possible way. He had friends from school, friends from the park, friends from Theo's building, and a running correspondence with Rosa in Barcelona that consisted primarily of drawings exchanged through Killian and Elena's phones.
Nora had two friends she described as good. She had assigned them these designations herself and applied them with precision, making clear that good was her highest category and not to be assumed lightly.
The brownstone had grown into itself in the way that houses do when they are actually lived in. There were crayon marks on the hallway wall below the picture frame level that I had stopped trying to
