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“I should get going,” Marie says “Sorry to leave, but”

She doesn’t have to explain My ood-bye

Once she’s gone and reed to let us all eat the cake,soet back to irls”

I knohat’s co next

I’m thirty-one and about to benext

“Have you guys given any thought to when you ht start a family?”

I have to stopmy eyes “Mom—”

Sa He has that luxury She’s only his mother in an honorary capacity

“I’to have a child,” my mom adds

There are always studies to prove I should hurry and studies to prove that I shouldn’t and I’ve decided that I will have a baby when I’ood and ready, no ton Post

Luckily, the look on my face has caused her to backpedal “Neverher hand in the air “I sound likethat”

My dad laughs and puts his arar cos to do than stay out with us Let’s get the bill”

Fifteenoutside the restaurant, headed to our cars

I’ sleeves and thick tights It is just enough to insulate hts that I’ll go anywhere without a wool coat

It’s the very end of October Autuland The leaves are yellow and red, on their way to brown and crunchy Sam has been over to my parents’ house once already to rake the yard clean Come December, when the temperature free-falls, he and Mike will shovel their snow

But for now the air still has a bit of warmth to it, so I savor it as best I can When I lived in Los Angeles, I never savored wars that last forever It is one of the reasons I moved back to Massachusetts

As I step toward the car, I hear the faint sound of a ringing cell phone I trace it back tohi habit of wanting to learn every instru the fact that Sa his music teacher

I dig throughlit up and flashing I don’t recognize the nu a bell but it does pique my interest

Lately, no one outside of 978, 857, 508, or 617—the various area codes of Boston and its suburbs—has reason to call me

And it is 978 specifically that has always signified ho Ifrom Lisbon (351 21) to Naples (39 081) I may have honeymooned in Mumbai (91 22) and lived, blissfully, for years, in Santa Monica, California (310) But when I needed to come “home,” “home” meant 978 And it is here I have stayed ever since

The answer pops into my head

808 is Hawaii

“Hello?” I say as I answer the phone

Sam has turned to look at me, and soon, my parents do, too

“Emma?”

The voice I hear through the phone is one that I would recognize anywhere, anytime—a voice that spoke to ht I’d never hear again, one I’ now

The man I loved since I was seventeen years old The man who left me a hen his helicopter went down soone without a trace