He arrived seven minutes early.
I noticed because I was already there, on a bench near the park’s east entrance with a coffee I was not drinking and Nathan beside me with one he was, and I saw Damian come through the gate in dark jeans and a plain jacket and no visible security and no car service idling at the curb. He had followed the terms to the letter, which I had expected by now, but the plainness of him still registered. He looked like a man rather than a position, which was something I had not been sure he knew how to do.
He found us. Crossed the path without hurrying. Said good morning to me, said it to Nathan with the particular steadiness of a man who understood exactly what Nathan’s presence meant and had made his peace with it, and then looked at Ethan.
Ethan was on the benc
