Love After The Lie

in the kitchen later, while I was h

hing alright? Leo

with that fake con

g a plate with unnecessary forc

Uncle David so

carefully neutral. "That

d. He knew. He s

d, even in my "widowhood," was gon

ad lost something he hadn'

e a blur of forced smi

ptain Ji

ad seen their own share of sorrow. He was a wi

ush, he jus

ictures of his fire engine, talked about safety, and even let Leo

to Mark's furtive, gui

ings from my apartment. The real

the few belongings retur

a painful remi

oxes, not for storag

I decided I nee

y event, a fundraiser for the local library

l boutique downtown, loo

s and grays, the colors of mou

in a soft, hopeful

id, I s

street, staring into the boutique

n my hand. He saw me s

fore I turned and walked away, my

ange sense

up at my apartment unannounc

xpensive-looking

k what Uncle Dav

t the robot,

but Mommy's helping me make a robot out of

"Oh. Well, this one has

ing back to his drawing of our box ro

to me, a flicker of d

his carefully construc