“He kept me safe.”
Dane glances at me. “We looked after each other.”
Christina nods. “That’s what brothers and sisters do. You take care of each other.”
I force myself not to react.
Beside me, I can feel Dane go stiff.
“We’ve got a jet waiting,” Grandad says. “We’ll talk more once we’re in the air.”
Then, after a beat, he adds, “We spoke to Tara’s parents. They’re not well enough to make the trip, but they want to talk to you once you’re settled in.”
I barely remember Mum’s parents.
They lived in America, and most years the distance between us stayed exactly that—distance. A few phone calls. The occasional visit. Christmas presents arriving in the mail. They never felt woven into the fabric of my life the way Grandad did.
Still, the thought of hearing their voices again makes something shift in my chest.
“Time to get you home,” Christina says.
The noise hits the second we step outside.
Cameras. Voices. Questions thrown from every direction at once.
“Dane—”
“Charlotte, over here?—”
“Is it true, fourteen years?—”
“Can you tell us where?—”
Dane’s hand settles at the small of my back. He shifts, putting himself between me and the nearest cameras without even looking, creating a wall before I realize I need it.
Grandad moves ahead, cutting a path through the crowd like he expects it to open—and it does. Christina stays close on my other side, closer than I expect.
I keep my eyes forward.
The car door shuts, and the noise disappears all at once.
The city slides past outside the windows in fragments. We don’t talk. Our hands rest near each other, fingers brushing occasionally as the car moves through traffic.
Eventually it slows and comes to a stop. The doors open, and we move again.
The jet is waiting.
We board, and without thinking, Dane and I take the seats beside each other. We settle into the shared space automatically, leaning toward each other the way we always have.
Christina is watching us.
I don’t look at her directly, but I can feel it. Her attention lingers, but she hasn’t said anything.
The plane lifts off, and the city falls away beneath us.
I look out the window as the coastline recedes, blue stretching in every direction. It makes me think of another horizon.
Nobody speaks for a while. Then Grandad breaks the silence.
