HIS NEIGHBOR WOULDN’T STOP REPORTING THE SOUND OF A GIRL CRYING INSIDE HIS HOUSE—THEN HE HID BENEATH HIS DAUGHTER’S BED AND HEARD HER PLEAD FOR SOMEONE TO SPARE HER

They stood together beneath the Texas sun, surrounded by grass, stone, memory, and the complicated grace of still being alive.

When Thomas died many years later, Lucia found the old yellow legal pad in a box of his things.

On the first page, in his rough handwriting, he had written:

Things I missed.