Claire looked toward the living room where Daniel was helping Emily build a model airplane.
“I don’t want to replace anyone.”
Linda’s expression softened.
“You couldn’t.”
Claire looked down.
“That came out wrong.”
“No.”
Linda touched her arm.
“It came out exactly right.”
“Sarah doesn't need replacing.”
“Emily doesn't need a new mother manufactured for the role.”
“Daniel doesn't need somebody pretending his first marriage didn't exist.”
Claire swallowed.
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Good.”
Linda smiled.
“People who think they know exactly how to join a grieving family are usually dangerous.”
Claire laughed.
That autumn, Daniel and Claire finally acknowledged what everybody else had noticed months earlier.
They were sitting on Daniel’s porch after Emily went to bed.
Claire had brought work.
Daniel had complained.
She closed the laptop.
“You’re judgmental.”
“I’m observant.”
“You’re annoying.”
“Also observant.”
Claire looked toward the dark yard.
“Are we dating?”
Daniel nearly choked on his coffee.
“What?”
“We've been doing this for months.”
“Doing what?”
“Dinner.”
“Visits.”
“Phone calls.”
“You fixed my kitchen drawer.”
“That was obviously romantic.”
Claire smiled.
“I am serious.”
Daniel became quiet.
“So am I.”
“About what?”
“That I don’t know.”
She waited.
Daniel stared into his mug.
“I like you.”
“I know.”
“That sounded arrogant.”
“I run a company.”
“Humility is outsourced.”
She laughed.
Then Daniel grew serious.
“I’m scared.”
Claire did not move.
“Of me?”
“Of changing Emily’s life.”
“Of loving someone again.”
“Of losing someone again.”
Claire felt something tighten in her chest.
“You don't have to promise me anything tonight.”
“I know.”
“Neither do you.”
They sat quietly.
Then Claire said:
“Would you like to go to dinner with me?”
Daniel looked at her.
“We have eaten dinner together twenty times.”
“No.”
“Dinner where neither of us pretends it’s because I happened to be nearby.”
He smiled.
“Okay.”
Their first official date was terrible.
The restaurant lost their reservation.
A waiter spilled water on Daniel.
Claire received an emergency call from work halfway through the main course.
They ended the evening eating pie at a twenty-four-hour diner.
It was perfect.
Emily reacted to the relationship with less enthusiasm than everyone expected.
That was another thing nobody had prepared for.
She liked Claire.
Very much.
She did not like the word girlfriend.
The first time Daniel explained, Emily became silent.
Then asked:
“Are you going to marry her?”
Daniel nearly dropped his fork.
“No one said anything about marriage.”
“Are you?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily looked toward her plate.
Claire was not present.
Daniel recognized fear.
“Talk to me.”
Emily whispered:
“If you marry her, is Mom not your wife anymore?”
Daniel’s heart broke.
He moved beside her.
“Your mom will always be part of our family.”
“But if Claire—”
“Emily.”
He took her hand.
“Loving someone now does not erase someone I loved before.”
“Can you do both?”