Constance glanced down at Gus and smiled.

“Would you really have quit?” he asked.

“Dad wouldn’t have listened if I were bluffing,” she replied.

“But why would you want him to?” Gus asked. “A couple days ago, you agreed with him.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I didn’t give you enough credit,” she replied. “By the time I turned nineteen, I already knew what I wanted to do with my life. I shouldn’t have expected less of you just because we came to different conclusions.”

Gus slid the business card back together and stared at it.

“I still don’t know exactly what I want to do,” he said, “but this… this is a start.”

“Good enough for me,” she replied, and placed her cellphone on the table.

She stepped out of the room and found Constable Norton leaning against the wall by the door. He stood up straight and cleared his throat.

“I, uh, wasn’t listening in or anything,” he said.

“Sure you weren’t,” she said. “So… think I made the right call?”

“Well, it’s probably not what I would’ve done,” he said. “But yeah, I think you nailed it.”

“I hope so,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of each other if I was wrong.”

Norton glanced down at his shoes.

“Only if you were wrong?” he asked.

She smiled and said, “We’ll see.”

///

Constance pulled up to the site in the morning and glanced at the sign on the fence. A splash of white paint blotted out the word “sons” and a few strips of electrical tape spelled out a new word in its place.

“Family.”

END