Caleb picked it up but he didn't pin it on.
If he pinned it on, he was in the scene.
April shifted, and Killian adjusted without thinking. Liam angled in. Arthur's attention recalibrated. The booth reorganized around her like a camera finding its mark. Not fighting for position. Not jockeying for control.
"This isn't a mess," he said.
April glanced at him, brows lifting slightly.
"You're not collecting men."
Her mouth curved like she wasn't sure whether to argue or laugh.
He glanced down at the name tag. Then back up.
"You're directing without directing."
He heard himself say it.
Not quite. Not wrong exactly, but not—he didn't have the word. His brain kept reaching for the frame and coming back with something that was almost right and slightly broken.
"I've worked with directors who spend months trying to manufacture that," he went on, because apparently he was still talking. "Chemistry. Balance. Who gets the moment. Who steps back." His gaze flicked across the booth. "You did it in five minutes."
She hadn'tdoneanything.
She was just—here. And somehow they all were too.
He glanced down at the name tag again.
It was giving golden ticket energy. The question was whether he was Charlie or the kid who turned into a blueberry.
"I'm not used to being the late addition to the cast. I'm usually the one people watch." He stopped. "They just—"
"You saw I was on the edge," he said. "And you adjusted the frame."
"Not because I'm Caleb Hart. You weren't—" His hand tightened on the name tag.
" I'm usually the one the room's built around. Like I'm just—"
He looked down at the name tag. The thought refused to land.
Just what?
Just a guy. Just here. Just another body in the room who didn't have a natural place at this table.
And she'd made one anyway. The way you slide a chair in without announcing you're doing it.
His brain kept circling the sentence like it was looking for the right mark on the floor and couldn't find one.
He looked at her the way you look at a director when you've forgotten your line and you're hoping they'll just feed it to you.
She stood, taking his hand without a word.
Caleb blinked. "What—"
But she was already moving. She pulled him away from the booth. The other men watched but didn't follow.
The suite was only a few steps away, close enough to still hear the bass, far enough that voices wouldn't carry.
