Overheard

"That's what I miss ..."

Once the pleasantries were over, that's what they kept returning to.

My girl and I were sitting in the booth behind them at Panera for two hours. My daughter had her headphones in, her attention buried in homework. All I had to do was busywork, so I did what I suspect every novelist does: I eavesdropped.

I couldn't see her and only the back of his head, his white hair carefully oiled and combed.

They talked about what they liked to do (movies, yes, bars, no), their...