She had a phone number.”
“I agree.”
Something about the answer surprised me.
No excuses.
No grand defense.
Just agreement.
“Our lawyers should have done better,” he continued.
“I should have done better.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because at the time, reopening the Meridian seemed impossible, and the box felt like one more unfinished obligation belonging to my mother.”
He glanced toward Belle’s room.
“I have spent the last year learning that unfinished obligations don’t disappear because you stop looking at them.”
I didn’t know what that meant.
I also didn’t want to know.
Not that night.
“I’m going home.”
“All right.”
“You aren’t going to stop me?”
His eyebrows lifted.
“No.”
That answer irritated me more than it should have.
I walked away.
“Rue.”
I turned one last time.
“Thank you for Belle.”
His voice was quiet.
No power in it.
No expectation.
