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her?”
    â€œSounds like you’re making judgments you’ve got no business making.”
    â€œYou made it my business when you sent me to tell her what you should have told her yourself. She should have been the first person you told.”
    â€œSo what did she say?”
    â€œWhat do you mean, what did she say? You think she’s going to talk to me about you and her? She got on her bike and drove off. I followed her. When I finally caught up to her, she was furious.”
    â€œShe isn’t ready for this any more than I am.”
    â€œNo, I don’t suppose she is. But at least she’s willing to face it.”
    â€œIt’s just . . .” His jaw worked up and down a few times. “I’ll talk to her,” he finally said. “I’ll make it right.”
    â€œGood, because I can’t do that for you.”
    â€œBut if for some reason she’s not ready . . .”
    â€œTeddy can’t put you up. Not with Tamara and the baby.”
    â€œLeo—” Teddy began, then closed his mouth, realizing I was right.
    I had an extra room at my place, which he possibly knew. But I didn’t want him living with me. It would be too near, too fast. It was one thing getting to know my father again after years of believing the worst about him. It was quite another to share a bathroom. I’d gotten used to living alone again after Teddy moved out.
    He went on, his voice roughening. “There’s guys out there who would still be in here if not for what I did for them. Put up bail, too, if you’re telling me you don’t want to do that.”
    â€œI’m not saying we don’t want to do anything.” I flushed, suddenly wishing I were almost anywhere else, wishing I hadn’t gotten into this. It demeaned all of us. I knew my brother would front the bail money in a second if asked, but Teddy had a family to worry about, and he couldn’t be financially liable for Lawrence’s bond.
    He went on. “I know you pretty well, Leo, even though you and I haven’t said two words to each other in twenty years. You worried I’m going to run?”
    He was behaving just as Dot had described him, taking the offensive rather than risking rejection. “That’s not what I’m telling you. Not at all.”
    â€œI’ve got people who’ll post any bond that judge will set. I don’t need a handout.”
    â€œThere’s this guy who owns one of the residence hotels in the city,” I said. “Who owed Teddy a favor, gave him a room for years rent-free. The Seward. If you’re on bail or parole with conditions, the judge may not approve it.”
    â€œSee, he does care,” Lawrence said to Teddy. There was no mistaking the sarcasm.
    â€œTake it easy on him, Pop,” Teddy said. “He wants the best.”
    â€œFor the record, I don’t think you should stay at the Seward, or anywhere else. I think you should go home to Dot, if she’ll have you. You’re engaged. What that means in this day and age is that you can live together. You don’t have to wait to be invited. You can just ask her if it’s okay. She shouldn’t have to beg.”
    The meanness suddenly drained from Lawrence’s face, and his head went down for a second. When he spoke, it was in a tone I hardly recognized. “ Home . I don’t even know what the word’s supposed to mean.”
    I didn’t, either. “Probably, it means what you make of it.”
    â€œSee, now, that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.” Hearing him say this, it occurred to me that perhaps his imprisonment was as necessary to his idea of togetherness as it had been to Dot’s, at least according to Teddy’s view of her. He went on. “I keep forgetting, you’re the one who found her body.” He looked up again. “I want you to know that I don’t blame you for the way you felt about me, for