For the first time, I wondered what this had cost him too.
“Did you love him?” I asked.
The question seemed to surprise him.
“Yes,” he said after a moment. “Very much.”
“What was he like?”
A faint, sad smile touched Harrison’s face.
“Restless. Brilliant. Terrible at arriving on time. He believed every broken machine could be fixed and every frightened person could be made to laugh if you waited long enough.”
My chest tightened.
“My mom used to say that,” I whispered.
“What?”
“That anything broken could be fixed if you were patient and had the right tools.”
Harrison looked at me then, really looked, and something passed across his face that made him seem less like a billionaire and more like a man seeing a ghost he had missed for decades.
“You have his eyes,” he said.
I turned away before he could see what that did to me.
Across the street, Marlene stood in the diner doorway with her arms folded against the rain. Watching. Guarding me in the only way she could.
“I need to tell Ethan,” I said.
“Yes.”
“But not at home.”
Harrison understood immediately. “Where is he?”
“At school. He has debate club after classes.”
“Would you like me to drive you?”
“No offense, but if six SUVs pull up at his high school, he’ll probably climb out a window.”
Harrison’s mouth twitched. “Understood.”
“I’ll take the bus.”
“Claire, the press may already be aware something is happening. People in the diner were recording.”
The thought made my stomach twist.
I imagined Ethan seeing my face online before I could explain. Our lives turned into strangers’ entertainment. My mother’s secrets dissected by people who would forget us by morning.
“No,” I said.
Harrison spoke quietly to another aide, then turned back. “One car. No visible security. My driver can take you to the school and wait out of sight.”
I wanted to refuse.
Pride rose in me, automatic and familiar.
Then I thought of Ethan.