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"Are you happy?"

She looks surprised. Then she smiles. "Yes."

"Good." And I mean it.

Something in her face softens. "Thank you." She looks toward the fields. "Michael is a good man. He loves Diego. But he's never tried to replace you."

My throat tightens. "What's he like?"

Diana looks at me. "Michael?"

"Diego."

Her face changes. And the fact that I have to ask someone else what my own son is like nearly takes the air out of me.

"He's quiet at first," she says. "Until he trusts you."

"Stubborn?" I ask.

She almost smiles. "Very."

"That's you."

"Keep telling yourself that."

A laugh catches in my chest. Not quite enough to become one.

Diana's smile fades into something softer. "He's kind. More than he lets people see right away. He notices everything. He'll sit with a problem for hours before he'll admit he needs help."

"That part sounds like you too."

"No." She holds my gaze. "That's you."

I don't answer.

"He's loyal. Protective. Sometimes too much for his own good."

Something catches behind my ribs.

Diana takes a small step closer. "He's like you, Javier.” I look at her.

“Very much like you."

I turn away before she can see what that does to me. The fields blur. I blink hard and stare toward the tree line until they come back into focus. Twenty years old. My son is twenty years old, and somewhere inside the man he's become are pieces of me I never got to watch grow.

Diana gives me a moment. Then she says quietly, "He's studying engineering."

I clear my throat. "Engineering?"

"Mechanical.”

I look back at her.

“He's good at it too."

"Where?"

"Boston."