Lucas watched him leave, a strange peace settling into the room behind him. The weeks that followed were different. Mark was different. He started leaving work earlier, shutting off his phone at dinner, and walking with Lucas on weekends. They even planted daisies in the backyard, right under the kitchen window.
“She’d like that,” Mark said one afternoon, dusting soil off his hands. Lucas nodded. “Yeah. I think she would.” Dana grew more distant, her presence in the house turning passive-aggressive. She stopped commenting on Lucas’s “moods” and started spending more nights away with vague excuses and loud phone calls.