The first time Antonio came for dinner, he helped me wash the dishes.
“You don’t have to do that,” I told him.
He shrugged.
“Ashley said you raised her to pull her weight.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“She actually said something nice about me?”
He laughed.
“More than you know.”
About a month before the wedding, Ashley came over alone.
“Dad, you still have my tie, right?”
I brought out the shoebox where I’d kept it in tissue paper.
“More than you know.”
She picked it up carefully and became teary-eyed.
“You really saved it.”
“A promise is a promise.”
She hugged me hard.
“Can I borrow it? I want to fix it up a little. It’s ancient.”
“You really saved it.”
Ashley returned the tie a week later inside a clear sleeve.
The backing had been reinforced.
“Don’t inspect it,” she warned, smiling. “There’s a surprise.”
