Then he explained that Sal would pay him cash every Saturday.

He had already accepted.

That probably sounds like a normal thirteen-year-old wanting independence.

But to understand what happened later, you need to understand Evan.

His father, Marcus, had died three years earlier.

Suddenly.

One of those medical emergencies that gives a family no warning and no proper goodbye.

One day Marcus was standing in our driveway showing Evan how to change a tire.

Less than two weeks later, I was wearing black and accepting casseroles from neighbors while my ten-year-old son squeezed my hand so tightly it hurt.

Evan changed after that.

Not in the way people usually imagine grief changing a child.