Too Late For Regret, Mr. Booth

or with his phone pressed to his ear

iday. Tell them we want th

ion-where Jacob wore perpetual suspicion, Iaan maintained a careful blankness

ults. N

ushed, her composure fractured in ways he'd rarely seen. "Th

er, his grip on Iaan's hand

d-Callum, listen to me. E

that Iaan stumbled, and Callum steadied him with

did yo

in her expression-fear, calculation, a rapid rea

The wedding planning.

nd found Jacob sitting alone on the carpet, surrounded by scattered Lego pieces

e nurse?" C

him. "They always go when t

son, crouching to me

or her gifts." Jacob's lip curled. "I

n't speak, but something passed between them-a communication beyond words, the p

, suddenly. "The woman. Th

e stuttered.

epths Callum saw something that might have been recognition, might have

ac

is window, his voice dropping to a

were shaking and his chest was tight and there was a ringin

" he told Jaida. "

ob's tre

ng both boys with him, his long strides eating the corridor distance. "Dr. F

king in undignified haste. "Callum, this i

"Whoever she is. Whatever she wan

drama unfolding in real-time for anyone with eyes to see. Callum scanned the spac

r a child by the

nother life. The particular angle of her head as she adjusted

li

. A whisper. A praye

on, shoving through the crowd, his expensive shoes slipping on p

Elise,

osed on her shoulder, spinn

startled and afraid, nothing like the woma

tepping back, his hands raised in

of alarm. Callum stood in the middle of the lobby, breathing hard, his

ed cautiously.

, his composure returning like armor,

wind hit his face and cleared the last of the delus

t o

in

ity, a black car carried Elise Preston and her daughter away from the hosp