"You sound like Wren."
All three of them freeze.
Liv blinks. "Who's Wren?"
"Tom's sister," I say it like it's obvious.
The table explodes.
"Hissister?" Priya gasps, dropping her phone flat onto the table.
"You met his family?!" Liv leans so far forward she nearly knocks over her coffee. "When?"
"Why was this not the lead item in the Debrief?" Nadia demands, her factual calm completely shattered.
I shrink back against the booth, startled by the volume. "I met her a few weeks ago. To help with her shop. She told me I have to let him figure it out. Not push."
Suddenly, the chaos cuts out.
Silence.
Nadia sets her coffee down slowly. Ceramic clinks against wood.
Priya stops reaching for her phone.
Liv stares at me like I just admitted to something I don't understand.
Nobody at our table speaks.
I glance between them. "What?"
Their faces stop me.
The memory hits—Wren's shop. The way Tom stood in the doorway. The way Wren looked at him when she saw us together.
He didn't bring a colleague to help his sister.
He brought me.
"Oh." I sit back against the booth. "I guess... yeah. I met his sister."
Liv reaches across the table and touches my hand again. Fingers warm.
"She's right, sweetie." Her voice is gentle. "You do have to let him figure it out."
I stare at her hand.
Then I pull mine back and sit up straighter. The booth creaks.
"But don't I get a say in this?" The words come out sharp. Urgent. "I don't want to just stand on the sidelines while he figures it out by himself."
My voice rises.
"I want to be part of it. Don't I get a say?"
The frustration is a living thing in my chest. I've spent my whole life making things happen. Planning. Executing. Controlling the variables so nothing falls apart.
Waiting means doing nothing. I don't sit still.
