He took out his phone and moved a few steps away, leaving Ariane and Edward making small talk. There was an atmosphere of disappointment, and he felt that it was his fault. They’d come all this way, and then he’d messed up.
“Dad?” he said. “We lost him.”
“What happened?”
So Damien explained. Don pushed him for more detail. His father didn’t forgive him, exactly, but only because he seemed to share in the blame as well as the disappointment.
“I should have briefed you better,” he said.
Damien said, “Shall we come home?”
“No,” Don said. “Not yet. Is Ted there?”
Ted? Damien realised that he meant Edward. Damien waved to catch the older man’s eye and then handed him the phone.
Edward listened to Don for a while. He didn’t say much other than to agree with him a couple of times.
Then h
