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“You did ask him about it,” she pointed out. “You knew that there was a possibility that this was a sore subject.”

“I did,” he admitted, thinking back on the conversation. “But I’m not sure there was a gentler or more polite way to ask about that picture.”

“There probably wasn’t,” she replied with an audible sigh. “But I still feel awful that he was so upset when we left. Although, to be fair, he was kind of mean. He could have just told us he wasn’t going to talk about that, but instead, he ordered us out of his house. I felt about two inches tall when we left.”

“I didn’t feel great either, but we definitely hit some sort of nerve. I didn’t intend to. I just wanted to find my possible half-sister.”

When they arrived at the hotel, he walked her to her door, the events of the day still running through his mind. He needed something to distract him, and there was no better place than this amazing city to do that.

“Have dinner with me,” he said as she unlocked the room door. “A real dinner. Not room service. We have one night left in this city, and we spent pretty much the whole day at a funeral. I’d like to spend the rest of it doing something else. We deserve a good meal, and I know just the place.”

“I packed for a funeral, Sam. I have one dress, and I’ve been crying in it.”

“Wear it. I’ve been in this suit all day, too. I swear to you, no one will know that you only brought one dress.”

She hesitated, but then nodded.

“Okay,” she said. “I am starving. Give me twenty minutes.”

“Take your time. I’ll call ahead for a table.”

The restaurant was four blocks away, on the second floor of a building across from the Public Garden. Sam had eaten there twice in his life, once with friends and once with his older brother Cooper, who was in town visiting while Sam was in college. He had spent both meals looking out the windows and marveling at the view. Cooper had agreed that the ambiance and food were top-notch.

Sam and Alli were given a small table near the fireplace, close enough that he could feel the cozy heat radiating from it. The room was dark wood and low light. The windows ran floor to ceiling, and beyond them the Garden was black and quiet, the paths marked by lamps, the trees mostly bare now.

Alli sat down, looked out, and then gave him a smile, possibly the first real one on this crappy day.

“That’s our pond.”

“It is.”

“The swans are put away for the night.”

“I assume they winter somewhere.”

“A swan boat retirement community,” she said, her expression solemn. “In Florida.”

They ordered a bottle of wine that the waiter recommended because Sam didn’t know shit about wine pairings.

The food was from the south of France, and they studied the menu carefully before making their choices. For their first course, he chose the corn soup while Alli chose the kale Ceaser salad. For the second course, they both selected the roasted chicken, and then the chocolate and caramel torte for dessert.

“Let’s have a rule,” she said when the waiter had disappeared back to the kitchen.

“Go on.”

“We don’t talk about it. Any of it. Not Walter, not the photograph, not the contracts, not your father. Tomorrow, all of it. But tonight, we’re just two people eating dinner.”

That sounded like heaven. He was totally on board.

“Agreed.”

“You say that now.”

“Trust me, I can do this.”

Her lips quirked up at the corners as if she found him amusing.

“So, it’s a deal?”