They reached Whitfield Hollow shortly after one. Lily spotted the truck from the window and opened the back door before Daniel had unloaded the first tool. She greeted Noah with a question about repeating decimals so complicated that Daniel briefly wondered whether he had accidentally delivered his son to an advanced mathematics examination. Noah answered without hesitation, and the two children disappeared into the kitchen in immediate, cheerful disagreement.
Catherine watched them from the doorway. "I hope this is all right," Daniel said. "Lily has been sighing dramatically about sevens since yesterday," Catherine replied. "Having somebody willing to argue back is not a problem." For a moment they shared the almost-smile that had become familiar, but Catherine's face changed again when her phone vibrated with Richard's name.
She sent the call to voicemail. "I spoke to Lily," Catherine said quietly. "She told me she needs the truth, even when it's uncomfortable." Daniel listened, uncertain whether Catherine wanted him to respond. She told him that Lily had also said she missed being checked on between meetings, not because she needed supervision but because she wanted to know her mother would appear.
"I thought I was teaching her independence," Catherine said. "Maybe I was teaching her not to expect me." Daniel told her those were not the same thing and suggested that learning the difference was something parents did throughout their children's lives. She studied him for a moment, then said that his son seemed to know he could expect him.
"He knows I'll come," Daniel answered. "That doesn't mean I haven't missed things. It means I keep trying not to."
Catherine nodded and went inside. The rest of the afternoon passed in the kind of concentrated work Daniel liked best. He fastened the first length of galvanized mesh, checked its tension without overpulling the frame, and trimmed the edge so it would not snag anyone passing through the gate. When Noah came outside, Daniel let him hold a harmless guide line from a safe distance, and the boy performed the task with the solemnity of someone receiving a medal.
Lily watched them for a while, then asked to help. Daniel assigned her the level and showed her how to read it, checking that she understood before leaving her to report the angle of each post. Catherine appeared at the window twice during the next hour, pausing with her phone in hand as she watched the children help in ways that were small but real. Daniel did not know what she was thinking, only that her expression softened each time she looked out.
By late afternoon the fence ran straighter than it had in years. Daniel still needed to finish the gate hardware and inspect the final connections, but the damaged section was stable and the temporary barriers could be moved back. Noah and Lily stood together comparing the old leaning posts with the new line, arguing over which change mattered most. Daniel let them finish before explaining that good repairs rarely depended on one impressive part; they depended on many ordinary parts agreeing to carry the load.