He thought about the birthdays he’d missed. The school plays. The hospital visits. The nights they cried and the mornings they rose anyway. He had abandoned twelve lives and didn’t even look back. And now that they had flourished, it was clear—they had never needed him to grow.
Lila told her sisters everything that evening. The waiting room confrontation. Justin’s desperation. His excuses. And when Lucy heard it, she didn’t cry. She nodded quietly, eyes heavy, as if some long-closed door had finally been sealed shut for good.