CHAPTER 7: Chapter 8 - Not a Charity Case

Evelyn refused the penthouse, the private nurse, the designer clothes, and the driver. She accepted only lunch, because Michael asked gently.
They met in a quiet restaurant. Evelyn wore her beige coat and kept smoothing the sleeve. Michael noticed but did not comment.
"I don't want to become one of your projects," she said after the soup arrived.
"You're not a project."
"Then don't fix me like one."
The words hit hard. His mother did not need to be managed. She needed to be believed.
He set down his spoon. "Tell me what you want."
Evelyn considered the question "I want to keep my apartment for now. I want to work less, not disappear. I want Sunday dinners if you can bear awkward conversation. And I want you to stop blaming yourself for being a child."
Michael looked away.
"I should have looked for you."
"You were told I left. Children believe the adults who feed them."
His breath caught. The sentence loosened something old.
"Sunday dinners," he said. "I can do that."
Evelyn smiled a little. "Can you cook?"
"No."
"Then we'll start with takeout."
Michael laughed, small and rusty, but real.