"It's sweet that it came from her," Karen reflects with a half smile. Nice to think that there's a through line from his childhood to the person he'd become.

Lifting her free hand, she gives it a little wobble. "Karen's not really a name you can make a lot of nicknames from. I'll get Kare sometimes. My mother used to call me Kare Bear, but I don't really like it when anyone else does." Too many memories.