DIABLO
Time stretches until the end of the day. It does that when waiting matters, when every second carries weight. The clock on the dashboard clicks forward with deliberate cruelty, each minute announced like a verdict.
April is still at her Italian class, and that much is allowed to finish first. That was the rule I set for myself. Interruption would have been easy. Tempting, even. But knowledge is leverage, and leverage is safety. The more she knows, the better prepared she’ll be—especially if Rome ever happens.
If.
Doubt lingers, unwelcome but persistent. Rome represents too much movement, too many variables. Distance loosens control. Distance invites mistakes.
Letting her walk away would be the sensible choice. That thought surfaces again, as it always does, dressed up as reason
