Ethan crossed the lobby before he let himself think too hard about it, the same way I imagined he’d learned to do most difficult things over the last several weeks — decisively, before the fear could catch up and talk him out of it — and I watched Vivian step back to let him pass, her hand finding mine instead, both of us staying exactly where we were.
Julian was still at the head of the table when the door opened, sleeves pushed back, mid-sentence with the last two board members lingering to shake his hand, and the moment he saw Ethan standing in the doorway, every other person in that room might as well have ceased to exist.
“Give us the room,” he said, quiet but absolute, and the remaining board members filed out past Ethan without a word, leaving father and son alone for the first ti
