Ethan
Lizzy listens with real interest and asks smart questions about the cost curve and the maintenance schedule. She'd be good at running a mid-sized city council, and that's not an insult. It's simply true. We stand in front of the wall map while I explain how we've shifted the west loop since winter storms dropped a stand of pines. She looks at the south ridge where Elijah and Allison stood last night and doesn't comment.
"Your father's right about one thing," she says after a minute. "Continuity reads well in rooms like the one you just sat in."
"I know." I keep my hands in my pockets so I don't have to decide what to do with them. "Continuity also gets used as a lever."
She studies my face. "You don't have to like me," she says, surprisingly plain. "But if this turns in
