Months followed that felt almost illegal in their happiness. A tiny apartment with mismatched furniture, a refrigerator that hummed like an old man, books piled everywhere, music late into the night, coffee in mugs that never all came out clean from the sink, laughter on the floor, plans that were not exactly plans but more like forms of trust. The idea that time would continue. That the world, at last, might not be only interrogation.

That summer he learned he was going to become a father.