"What about Elias?"
"I'll tell him Daddy has an early meeting in the morning and is staying near the office. Which is close enough to true that I won't hate myself for saying it." She finally looked at him fully. "Does she come here? To this house?"
Marcus shook his head. "Only the office. And twice to the park next door. Never here. That was the rule."
"Your rule."
"Our rule. Hers and mine."
Aaliyah tasted something bitter at the back of her tongue. "How generous of you both."
He left at seven-forty with a duffel bag and a face that looked older than thirty-nine. Elias watched from the front window and waved, and Marcus waved back, and Aaliyah stood in the hallway behind her son and did not wave at all.