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to the car, buddy, so the
     
paparazzi won’t see us.” Noah’s eyes would grow wide and alert, and then he’d put on
     
his dark glasses and prepare for the dangerous journey. But now all Noah had was Ed,
     
and all Ed could manage was a pretend smile and a sincere concern for his education. He
     
often wondered if Noah would have been better off if he’d been the one killed in the
     
accident instead of Jake.
     
On the Sunday evening before the construction began, Ed loaded Noah’s bags
     
into his Range Rover, put Tucker’s dog food and bowls into a brown bag, and drove out
     
to the airport to pick up Lisa. Then he rented her a car and they drove back to the guest
     
house in tandem. Both Noah and Tucker rode with Lisa, because Noah was afraid she
     
might get lost in a new city—he was very protective when it came to Lisa. They ordered
     
Chinese takeout because they didn’t want to leave Tucker all alone in a new place the
     
first night. And when it was time for Ed to leave, Noah lowered his eyes to his shoes and
     
turned in the other direction. Evidently, he was still upset about not being able to stay at
     
the house with Ed.
     
“I’ll pick you up from school tomorrow,” Ed said, touching his shoulder. “And
     
we’ll have dinner together. Okay?”
     
But Noah wouldn’t look up. He shrugged his shoulders and folded his arms across
     
his chest. Lisa gave Ed a look, then smiled and put her arm around Noah’s shoulder. “This
     
is all going to go by so fast,” she said, “you won’t even remember how upset you are
     
right now. And to make it a little better, you can stay up extra late tonight and we can
     
watch TV until you fall asleep on the sofa.”
     
“Can we watch the reruns of Dream Away with Jonathan Haynes?” he asked.
     
She smiled. “We can watch whatever you want. I’m really looking forward to this.
     
I’ve been missing you since you left New York.” She gave him a slight push forward and
     
said, “C’mon, give your Dad a hug and say goodnight.”
     
Noah stepped forward and put his arms around Ed’s waist. He was still frowning,
     
and his voice was soft, but he hugged him tight and said, “Love you, Dad.”
     
Ed swallowed and gave Lisa look. Then he bent down and hugged him as hard as
     
he could. “I love you, too, son.”
     
“Just one thing, Dad,” he said.
     
“What’s that?”
     
“Can Lisa pick me up from school tomorrow instead of you, and take me to the
     
house so I can see Jonathan Haynes again?”
     
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I’ll pick you up myself so Lisa can work, and then
     
I’ll take you back to the house and you can meet the entire film crew. How’s that?”
     
He hugged Ed harder, then smiled and said, “Sounds good.”
     
Ed drove back to the house, hunched over the steering wheel, biting the inside of
     
his mouth. But when he pulled into the driveway, he noticed someone crossing down the
     
front walk. He stopped in the middle of the driveway and a man stopped walking. When
     
he clicked off the engine and got out of the car, he saw Jonathan Haynes standing on his sidewalk. He was wearing beige jeans, a white shirt, and a charcoal sport jacket. His dark
     
brown, almost black hair was shorter now, and he looked thinner. Before he even realized
     
it was happening, Jonathan was crossing toward him with a huge smile on his face and
     
his right arm extended to shake his hand. “I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow,” Ed
     
said.
     
Jonathan smiled. “I just wanted to stop by and see if you’re all set to go tomorrow
     
morning. Part of my job is to make sure the film crew is always in the background and
     
you’re never bothered by any of it.” Then he reached out to shake his hand.
     
His palm was so soft and gentle, Ed felt a chill on the back of his neck. “My
     
contractor will be here at eight, and we start demolition in the kitchen,” he