⸻
Sienna made up her missed assignments over the following two weeks, Mrs. Carter working with her privately once she understood exactly what had actually been happening instead of simple teenage rebellion.
⸻
Gordon passed away five weeks later, on a Tuesday morning, Sienna and I both there in the room with him, along with Roy, the four of us finally handling something honestly together instead of managing it carefully around each other’s feelings.
⸻
I think about that pickup truck sometimes, the exact moment I saw Roy behind the wheel and understood, all at once, that whatever I’d been imagining for the past twenty-four hours was about to be replaced by something considerably harder and considerably more important than anything I’d braced myself for on that drive across town.
⸻
Sienna still visits Gordon’s grave most weekends now, sometimes with me, sometimes with Roy, who’s become a steadier presence in both our lives than I ever expected after everything.
