Lauren Collins lived ninety minutes away in Dayton. Before Hannah died, the sisters had spoken almost every day. Lauren had helped Daniel during the first winter after the funeral, picking Emma up from school and bringing groceries without asking whether they were needed. She and Daniel had never been especially close, but he trusted her love for her niece. Then her visits became less frequent. Lauren said she had trouble reaching him. Daniel said he had been working long hours. Each assumed the other needed space. Celeste, who managed household calendars and answered messages when Daniel was busy, assured them separately that the distance was temporary. Neither realized that she had quietly stopped forwarding invitations and had deleted several messages from the shared household tablet.
The birthday party was Celeste's idea. She said ten was an important milestone and deserved to be celebrated properly. She chose a Sunday afternoon in late June, invited families from her social circle, ordered pastel balloons and a catered lunch, and arranged for the local newspaper's lifestyle photographer to stop by. The event was supposed to announce their engagement publicly as well, though Daniel had told her he wanted to wait until Emma was comfortable with the idea. Celeste said there was no reason to separate two happy occasions. She spoke of the party as something generous she was giving Emma, while Emma watched a stranger make decisions about the color of her cake.
Emma had asked for only three things: a strawberry cake, a bicycle ride with her father, and the paper-star treasure hunt her mother used to make. Celeste approved the cake, ordered a decorative bicycle for the lawn, and dismissed the paper stars as too messy for an elegant party. Daniel heard this last detail while washing dishes one evening. He told Celeste that the treasure hunt mattered to Emma. Celeste answered that there would be dozens of children, and everyone could not be expected to participate in a private family ritual. He should have insisted. Instead, tired from a twelve-hour day at the shop, he agreed to do the treasure hunt with Emma later. He would remember that decision with painful clarity.
A week before the party, Daniel went back to his old house to retrieve a box of tax documents. The house was nearly empty, waiting for repairs before he could decide whether to sell it, and his footsteps sounded too loud in the hallway. In the bedroom closet, he found the navy-blue jewelry box beneath the folder where he had hidden it. He sat on the edge of the bare mattress and opened it. The little star lay in the faded velvet lining, still catching the