The rooftop observatory had been installed by Damian’s father, which was one of the few things Damian had ever told me about the man without being asked. He mentioned it in the context of the co-parenting logistics, when we were discussing locations appropriate for Ethan that were neither Damian’s full professional environment nor the neutral-ground parks we had been using. He said it simply, the roof of the De Luca building, there’s a telescope, and then moved on, and I had filed it as information and eventually, in the context of a seven-year-old who had been studying clouds and constellations with the focus of a doctoral candidate, mentioned it to Ethan.
Ethan had looked at me with the expression he reserved for things he considered self-evidently correct.
“When?” he said.
I told Dam
