Chapter 16
The marine museum hosted another conservation dinner in spring.
Smaller.
Cleaner.
No private succession toast.
Diane did not attend.
Her choice.
Avice arrived holding another handmade card.
This one had a whale on the front.
Or possibly a blue potato.
Art is subjective.
She walked directly toward my table.
Nobody touched her chair.
I noticed Julian noticing.
He smiled.
Not because the moment was cute.
Because he understood how low the bar had once fallen.
Avice climbed beside me and handed over the card.
Inside were four figures.
Me.
Julian.
Avice.
A fish.
I pointed.
“Family?”
She looked offended.
“Fish live here.”
Right.
My mistake.
Julian laughed.
That sound was easier now.
He and Avice had been having breakfast together every Sunday.
No Vanessa.
No Diane supervising.
No discussion of heirs.
Sometimes they argued over pancakes.
Progress.
Halfway through dinner, Raymond asked Avice what she wanted to be when she grew up.
I almost stopped him.
Then she answered:
“Shark.”
The table laughed.
Not at her.
With her.
Different.
Raymond nodded seriously.
“Strong career.”
She agreed.
I looked around the room.
Months earlier, adults had been deciding which imaginary boy should inherit a future nobody owned yet.
May you like
Now the only three-year-old at the table wanted to become a shark.
Better plan.
