"No. She doesn't need this."
"She knows something's wrong."
Catherine turned toward him sharply. "How could you know that?"
"She's been checking the window every few minutes. And she told me about the conference room. Kids notice where we put our time. They notice more when something changes."
Catherine's face tightened. "She's twelve. I need to protect her from adult problems."
"I know you do. But she might be carrying the worry already, only without the facts. That's a lonely way to be scared."
She looked at him as though she might argue, then turned toward the kitchen window. Lily was there, visible for an instant, holding a glass against her chest. When she saw her mother looking, she moved out of sight. Catherine watched the empty window for a long time. A little of the rigid control left her shoulders, though she said nothing more.
At four-ten, Daniel's truck arrived back in the driveway with Noah in the passenger seat. Daniel had collected him at school and returned to finish securing the section that could not safely remain open overnight. Noah stepped down with his backpack sliding off one shoulder and paused at the gate to inspect the new posts. He tilted his head, examining the drainage and the replacement mesh as if his opinion had been requested by the building inspector.
"Galvanized mesh," he announced. "Good choice."
"Hello to you, too," Daniel said.
"You only finished two and a half footings."
"The third needs more time to set."
"You should have started earlier."
Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Someday, when you run your own company, you'll understand why that isn't always possible."
Noah considered this and appeared willing to allow his father the benefit of the doubt. Catherine emerged onto the back step, watching the exchange with an expression that was almost amusement. She introduced herself, and Noah shook her hand solemnly, as though he had been taught that politeness was not optional even when something more interesting was nearby. Lily came from the kitchen with a notebook tucked under her arm.
"Is this Noah?" she asked.
"Depends," Noah said. "Are you the person who left a fraction problem on the table?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Your mom told Dad you like math. I like math. That's how adults introduce people who don't need introducing."
Within five minutes the two children had entered the house and begun what Daniel could only describe as a spirited dispute about whether fractions or decimals were more honest ways of expressing the same quantity. Catherine stayed in the doorway, listening to their voices rise and fall. She had a company in danger, an ex-husband who made family arrangements feel like contractual disputes, and a dozen urgent calls waiting to be returned. Yet for the first time all day, she was not looking at her phone.
"He's not shy," she observed.
"He was for about a week when he was three," Daniel said. "Then he found questions."
"Lily doesn't usually take to people that quickly."