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did as the years went by. It was hard for Jason to not see Logan as playing a role in bringing Jason’s real, more confident self out.
    Regan came back and put the steaming mug before him. She didn’t say anything and seemed to have closed something off from Jason, to have withdrawn from the conversation a few degrees. There was none of the lightness that usually existed between them, the comforting ease of old friends who shared a long history.
    “I guess I feel like I should go and see his dad,” Jason said.
    “Why?”
    “I hate the thought of the old man dying alone. He’s divorced, no other kids. I knew him fairly well. As well as you could know the workaholic, emotionally distant father of your best friend.”
    “He probably won’t remember who you are now.”
    “I understand that. But his son isn’t showing up, I guess.”
    “You’re right that Logan
should
be doing it.”
    “But he isn’t. Would it hurt anything to go see the old man? I wasn’t really here when my parents were slipping away. Maybe it’s silly.”
    Regan leaned forward, smiling. Some of the warmth returnedto her face. “It’s sweet that you want to do that. I didn’t know his father at all really. When we used to go to Logan’s house, his dad just used to grunt at me. I got the feeling he didn’t have much use for girls. It’s probably lucky Logan didn’t have any sisters. His mother was always kind, but Mr. Shaw? Bleh.”
    “You remember his mother?”
    “Sure. Don’t you?”
    “Barely. She never seemed to be around when we were kids.”
    “They were divorced.” Regan smiled as she remembered something. “Mrs. Shaw was in some kind of women’s club with my mom when we were growing up. She’d come to our house from time to time. She always asked about me and how I was doing. Was I planning to go to college? Was I thinking about a career? She talked to me like I was an adult, not the usual bullshit.”
    “Hmm. I guess I never really talked to her.”
    “You were a boy,” Regan said. “But you should go see his dad if you want. It can’t hurt anything—you’re right.” Regan looked at her watch. “I have to be getting back to the bank. Every fifteen minutes I’m gone, I get one hundred e-mails to respond to.”
    “I understand. Try working for a big company. We get e-mails telling us how much toilet paper to use in the bathroom.”
    “That’s adulthood, I guess.” She stood up and gathered her keys and her phone.
    “What do you think he’s doing now?” Jason asked. “Logan, I mean. Is he a beach bum? Is he a businessman? Did he get married and have kids?” Jason shook his head. “What on earth would he be doing?”
    “It’s probably best not to indulge ourselves with a lot of what-ifs,” Regan said.
    Jason got the feeling she was talking about more than justLogan.

Chapter Three
    Jason and Nora were getting ready for bed when their front doorbell rang. They’d already done the dishes and turned out the lights on the first floor, leaving just a lone bulb burning on the front porch. It was past ten. Jason held his toothbrush, and Nora looked startled.
    “Who the hell is that?” she asked.
    Jason rinsed his mouth and, wearing just shorts and a T-shirt, started down the stairs to the front door. Halfway to the bottom, Nora called after him.
    “Are you sure it’s safe? Maybe you shouldn’t answer.”
    “Safer than New York, I would hope,” he said. He didn’t know if she heard him. He slowed his pace as he approached the front door. No one ever just showed up at their house, especially late at night. He figured it was probably kids playing a prank, ringing the bell and running off. Jason leaned over and peered through the narrow window that ran parallel to the door. What he saw brought him up short.
    The person on the porch who stood with her back to him looked familiar. So familiar that her posture, the shape of her body, struck a chord inside him, one that hadn’t been struck in years.
    “Who