Chapter 3: A Family I No Longer Know

In the middle of the yard, Mason was trying to balance on a skateboard. The old deck rattled over the cracked driveway, Mason’s arms pinwheeling as he tried to keep his balance. He stood unsteadily, wobbling back and forth.

Now and then he called, "Dad, I feel like I’m gonna fall!"

"If you keep your head straight, you’ll stay steady."

The man he called "Dad" answered coolly.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, tall and poised. He no longer seemed like the man I married; now, after his big break, he carried an even more untouchable air, like he belonged somewhere else.

That was my husband, Caleb Jennings.

Five years ago, he rolled through and settled here. With the help of the town mayor, we became husband and wife.

Even then, though he wore old jeans and flannel, his confidence was unmistakable—unlike any ordinary man.

Later, I learned—

He was the top engineer under the CEO at a major tech firm. A prodigy, who built his first app and made his first million in his teens.