The gift appeared after Dante left.
At first, Livia did not notice it. She was too busy wiping frosting from the table, separating recyclable cups from trash because Noah's teacher had turned him into a small environmental inspector, and answering questions from mothers who pretended not to be curious about the handsome stranger in the dark coat. Mateus carried chairs back to the storage room with more force than necessary. Helena packed leftover pastries into plastic containers and occasionally glanced at Livia with the kind of silence mothers used when they wanted to say I told you so but loved you enough to wait.
Noah found the package beneath the gift table.
—Mom?
Livia turned with a trash bag in one hand.
He held a rectangular parcel wrapped in plain silver paper, tied with a nav
