Wyatt’s eyes snapped back to mine. “I know that. I do. I just—” He shook his head once, sharp. “I’ve had a day.”
That was an understatement, if I’d ever heard one.
“Okay,” I said, calm by choice. “Sit down. Or don’t. But you’re not doing this standing like you’re about to bolt.”
A corner of his mouth twitched despite himself.
He dropped onto the edge of the sofa, elbows on his knees, hands clasped like he was holding himself together by force. I stayed where I was for a second longer, watching him, clocking the tension in his shoulders, the way his leg bounced once before he stilled it.
Then I crossed the room and sat beside him.
Not touching. Close enough to matter.
“I took a job,” I said.
His head came up so fast it was almost comical. “What?”
“I know,” I said quickly. “Bad timing. But also … good timing? Natalie offered it. Community Response Manager. We can talk about it later, if you need me to slow down.”
He stared at me, blinking like his brain was buffering. “You … took a job.”
“I did.”
“In Charleston.”
“Yes.”
He leaned back against the sofa, staring up at the ceiling for a beat like he was recalibrating reality. “Of course, you did.”
I tilted my head. “That didn’t sound angry.”
“It’s not,” he said. “It’s just—” He laughed under his breath, rough and disbelieving. “You’re over here building a life and I’m finding out my entire existence is a fucking government experiment.”
That stopped me.
“What?” I said quietly.
He looked at me then. And something in his expression shifted.
Decision.
“Okay,” he said. “We’re doing this. No more half-truths.”
My pulse quickened, but I didn’t interrupt.
“You know how, when we saw each other at UT orientation after high school, I told you my father was gone?”
I nodded.
“My father is alive,” he said.
The words landed heavy, but I didn’t recoil. Didn’t rush to fill the space.
“I met him today,” Wyatt continued. “At Dominion Hall.”
I inhaled slowly. “Okay.”
“He didn’t abandon us,” he said, voice tight. “He disappeared. On purpose. Because of … things. Programs. People. Stuff I don’t even fully understand yet.”
