My father stood up at the lake house dinner and raised his glass in fr…

twice and stopped.

My phone buzzed.

A text from my father.

Nadia, I hope you and Marin are well.

That was all.

No explanation.

No apology.

No mention of the lake house.

No family speech.

Just my name.

I looked at it for a while.

Then I set the phone down beside my plate.

Not hard.

Carefully.

The way you set something down when you understand that not every message continue reading …