staff, and solve every inconvenience before she encountered it.
Instead, I helped carry boxes into a three-bedroom rental twelve minutes from my home.
Daniel came too.
So did Helen.
At one point Helen handed me a lamp and said, “Try not to turn this into a corporate merger.”
“I’ve been explicitly instructed not to.”
“Good.”
She pointed toward Cassandra.
“She has better lawyers.”
Cassandra overheard.
“I don’t have lawyers.”
Helen smiled.
“Exactly.”
By then Helen’s complicated opinions about me had evolved into complicated tolerance.
I considered that progress.
Luke and
