Chapter 1
In New York, at the kitchen table, Danny finds that Julian has scheduled a meeting for his first day back.
He’s blocked off two hours on Danny’s calendar and labeled it: IMPORTANT.
Danny is pretty sure he knows what this means, but he’s also not sure he wants to face it.
So much has already changed in Danny’s life this year.
He accepts the meeting, which is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.
Eve sits across from him and pushes a mug of coffee in his direction. She’s holding her phone against her chest.
“Thanks,” he says.
“I don’t know if you want to hear this,” Eve says, “and you don’t need to do anything about it. But I did some digging.”
“What?”
Eve hands him her phone. It’s open to the website of a ceramics studio.
Georgia Larkin offers wheel classes for individuals and groups. You can also shop her original work in-store or online. Beside the bio, there’s a black-and-white photo of a woman with a soft smile and a clay-splattered apron.
“I don’t understand,” Danny says.
“It’s on 61st. She has a phone number there.”
“Eve,” Danny says quietly. “I don’t even know what I’d say.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Has she been here all along?”
“I’m not sure.”
“How did you find her?”
“An archived post on a pottery forum. It took a while. I did some creative searching. Some have said I would’ve made a great kid detective.”
Larkin.
Danny grew up nervous about money, so it makes sense that checking his bank account would always make him uneasy. But what has always been worse than seeing the numbers is seeing the security question: “What is your mother’s maiden name?”
Now that he hears it, he feels like he’s returning to buried treasure.
Surely, at some point, he knew it, but he never knew his grandparents and he was twelve when she left and had no immediate use for it.
He didn’t even know what maiden names were, really, or whether Georgia would have returned to hers, or if that was a thing a person could do.
He did not dare ask his father because he didn’t want to upset him.
“I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have,” Eve says.
“No,” Danny says. “Thank you. I want to call her.”
They both look at the phone for a long moment.
“Do you want some privacy?” Eve asks.
“Stay with me?” Danny says.
Eve says, “Always.”