Nobody spoke.
“Because if the only reason you come back is because you want your inheritance, then you haven’t changed.”
My father nodded slowly, absorbing that.
“And if I change?”
Grandma’s voice softened just slightly. “Then we’ll see.”
The hearing ended shortly after that. Outside, the sky had gone gray, the particular flat gray of an afternoon that couldn’t decide whether it wanted to rain. My father approached Grandma near the courthouse steps as we were leaving. I stayed several feet back, watching.
He looked older than he had even at the airport, something worn down and diminished in his posture that hadn’t been there before all of this started.
“Can I walk you to the car?”
Grandma hesitated for a long moment. Then she nodded.
They walked slowly together across the parking lot, and I followed a few steps behind, giving them what space I could. At the car, my father stopped.
