had once seemed strange no longer felt accidental.
I covered my mouth.
Nora squirmed against Grandpa’s shoulder.
Almost two years.
Two years since the bookstore reading where Caleb had turned toward me in the aisle and spoken my name as though he already knew it.
Two years of coffee, long drives, quiet evenings in his apartment.
None of it had been chance.
Grandpa continued.
“After Caleb’s mother died, William started pursuing your mother. Sarah refused him, so he fired her and made sure no decent family in the county would
