“He matters to me, too.""I know he does.""He didn't." Phillip pulled out his hammer to nail the laps. "Not as much as he did to you. Not enough. It's different now.""I know that, too." For the next few minutes they worked in tandem, without words. "You stood up for him anyway," Cam added when the plank was in place. "Even when he didn't matter enough.""I did it for Dad.""We all did it for Dad. Now we're doing it for Seth.”

“When Duncan did arrive a half hour later, I hugged him and didn't let go. He seemed a little embarrassed to be receiving such a public display of affection. After all, he did try his very best to barbeque me once. But that didn't matter now.”

“The one thing I did ask my dad was about the boys problems at home. Whether or not he thought the parents hit their son. He told me to mind my own business. Because he didn't know and would never ask and didn't think it mattered."Not everyone has a sob story, Charlie, and even if they do, its no excuse.”

“So," Simon said. "Looks like you and Derek are getting along again. What happened? Did he give you the look?""Look?""You know. The one that makes him look like a whipped puppy, and makes you feel like a jerk for doing the whipping.""Ah, that one. So it works on you, too?"He snorted. "It even works on Dad. We give in, we tell him it's okay, and the next thing you know, he's chewing up slippers again."I laughed.”

“But Roarke doesn't feel weird about it. He's full of it, the love, I mean. And when he loves me, things that never worked in me did - do. It was easier when they didn't work, but it's better when they do. You know?”

“And even though it didn't work, it did sort of work, because when we're all together, it's like Skippy's there too, because each of us has his own little jigsaw piece of him he remembers, and when you fit them all together, and you make the whole picture, then it's like he comes to life.”