Page 28

Effort, Pennsylvania

S he hasn’t seen him in months. Then she turns, and suddenly there he is.

In her kitchen. Standing there, unannounced, startling her. Jeremy’s mom, Connie, isn’t even sure which door he came through.

He is just there. Tall—well over six feet. Towering over her. Eyes bugging out. And he’s thin, she notices. Really, really thin.

“Bryan,” she says. “What are you doing here?” Even as she asks the question, she knows the answer, because she knows what they teach in rehab.

He’s come to atone. To make amends. He’s come to say he’s sorry for stealing from her. “I knew it was you,” Connie tells him.

There’s much more Bryan could say. That he’s started working toward a psychology degree at Northampton Community College. That he’s lonely. He misses Jeremy. But he doesn’t say any of that. He doesn’t get the chance.

After he’s done apologizing, Connie thanks him. And then, with as much kindness as she can muster, Connie asks Bryan to leave and never come back to the Saba house.

She needs to protect her son from the tall, newly thin former neighbor.

Maybe, as he claims, he doesn’t do drugs anymore.

But somehow, she senses that he is still a threat to their family.