Her eyes sharpened for a fraction of a second. “What does that mean?”
“Only that I’m tired.”
She softened immediately. “Then let me help you. I’ve been thinking more about Vancouver. A smaller place. Less noise. Fewer ghosts. We could leave before summer if you’re ready.”
We.
The word sat between them like a signed confession.
“Maybe,” Harrison said. “But I need time.”
“Of course.” She smiled. “I’ve waited this long.”
He went to shower, locked the bathroom door, and gripped the sink until his knuckles whitened. His face in the mirror looked older than fifty-four. Grief had hollowed him. Trust had blinded him. But beneath the exhaustion, anger had lit a pilot flame.
At Sterling Infrastructure, Harrison borrowed a senior engineer’s phone and called Graham.
His younger brother answered on the second ring.
