Helen told Owen about Daniel. The Daniel who borrowed money and forgot entirely that he had, who failed his exam twice and sulked about it spectacularly, who once drove three hours in the completely wrong direction rather than admit he was lost. Owen listened the way a person listens when they are being given something they didn’t know they had been missing.
Before Owen left, Helen asked if he would come back with Sarah and the children. He went very still. “I didn’t expect to get through the door tonight,” he said. “But yes. Very much yes, if you want that.” “I want that,” Helen said. She wrote her number on the back of a cocktail napkin. It felt like exactly the right way to do it.