I felt something inside me settle.
Not confidence exactly.
Something more useful.
Direction.
I had boarded the plane believing my life was falling apart.
Maybe it was.
But falling apart and ending were not the same thing.
Sometimes things broke because they had been built around truths no one had been willing to face.
I looked at Adrian.
“Find Claire.”
“I intend to.”
“And when you do?”
“I ask her why.”
“No threats.”
His eyebrows rose.
“I wasn’t planning any.”
“No pressure either.”
“Elena.”
“I mean it.”
He studied me.
Then nodded.
“No pressure.”
“Just the truth.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“So will I.”
Marisol arrived an hour later.
She entered the hotel room carrying two grocery bags, a backpack for Lily, and the expression of a woman prepared to reorganize someone’s entire life before lunch.
“You look terrible,” she told me.
“Good morning to you too.”
