Sadie nodded.
"I tell him about his dad."
She reached for her phone.
"I have pictures."
My throat tightened.
"Pictures?"
"Of Caleb. Of us. Some from school."
She opened a folder and handed me the phone.
There was Caleb at 18, grinning into the camera.
There was Sadie beside him.
Then Beau.
Same grin.
Same crooked eyebrow.
I covered my mouth.
"Oh, Caleb."
Sadie began crying again.
Don't miss
"I'm sorry."
I handed the phone back.
"How does Jasper fit into this?"
For the first time, she almost smiled.
"Jasper was Caleb's."
I blinked.
"What?"
"Not officially. Caleb found him behind the grocery store the summer before senior year."
A memory surfaced.
Caleb coming home late several evenings that summer.
Dog food disappearing from our garage.
I had assumed he was feeding a neighbor's pet.
Sadie continued.
"He kept Jasper behind my parents' shed for weeks. Then my dad finally let me keep him."
I stared toward the kitchen.
"That's why he goes to the cemetery."
"He remembers Caleb."
I looked down at my hands.
Suddenly, every Sunday made sense.
Jasper hadn't chosen a random grave.
He hadn't been wandering.
He had been visiting someone he loved.
Just like I had.
Beau wandered back into the room holding two crackers.
He climbed beside Sadie.
Then he studied me.
"Mommy says my daddy was funny."
I laughed through my tears.
"He was."
Beau smiled.
"Did you know him?"
I looked at Sadie.
She nodded.
I crouched in front of him.
"I knew him very well."
"How?"
