I hold her gaze. I get the distinct feeling she's not telling me this in a random kind of way. Agatha is a Thornwood and Thornwoods don't wear their feelings on their sleeves. If she's telling me this, she has a reason.
"I didn't know you felt that way," I say and it's true. "You didn't look lonely."
"Of course I didn't look lonely to you. You were just a little boy and little boys take the world as they find it." She looks across the waiting room toward the front desk, where the gnome is now on the phone. "Cornelius was a good man and we had a good life together. I only want you to understand that a good life costs more than most men want to admit it does. And the ones who realize it late are the ones who spend the last chapter of their lives finding out what they missed."
The pixie child escapes again. She zips between two rows of chairs before her mother catches her, wings spinning like a trapped hummingbird.
"I'm not missing anything," I say.
Agatha turns and looks at me the way she used to when I'd argue myself out of admitting I was wrong. My phone rings.
I look at the screen.
"I have to take this," I say as I bring it to my ear and lean back in the chair that is still too small for me. "This is Demetrius."
"Demetrius." Marcus Webb's voice is warm and happy. "I hope it's a good time?"
"Marcus." I make no effort to lower my voice. "I take it you have news for me if you sound so chipper?"
"I do. I put Madison Berwick's name in front of the chief nursing officer myself. Top of the stack." A pause. "She's going to get a very compelling offer from us, Demetrius. Meridian Pacific looks after its own and anyone you vouch for is someone we want."
"That's what I was hoping to hear." I sit forward in the chair. "And the timeline?"
"We'll put everything together for the offer by Friday. We'll want to move quickly once she's had a chance to review the terms."
"I'll make sure she gives you an answer fast." I straighten up. "I appreciate this, Marcus. I won't forget it."
"That's what the favor bank is for." The warmth in his voice has nothing to do with the favor bank and we both know it, which is one of the reasons I respect him. "She's a lucky woman."
"It's me who's the lucky one," I answer. "I'll be in touch."
I hang up to find Agatha watching me.
"What was that?" Agatha's face is closed and her eyes are unreadable.
It is not quite a question.
"Business." I put the phone in my jacket pocket.
"What kind of business?"
I consider deflecting, but not for long. Agatha is not going to give me any way out of this. The old minotaur matriarch is as shrewd as ever. More, even. Like the years honed her mind to a razor-sharp edge.
"Windemere Maritime," I say. "I'm almost done with the acquisition."
"Your grandfather spent the last decade of his life trying to close that deal." She tilts her head. "It never came together the way he wanted." She pauses. "You finally managed it."
"Yes." A tightness settles behind my ribs. "But Adelaide threw me for a loop. She required me to agree to a relocation clause. Apersonal relocation. I'll be on-site in Long Beach for the next five years."
The waiting room is quiet enough that I can hear the sound of a name being called somewhere in the back corridor, a door swinging open and shut.
"Five years," she says. "It's a long time away from home."
"It's not what I wanted, but it was that or let go of the deal." I straighten in the chair. "It's fine. I'll come back every month to visit you."
"And Maddie."
The way she says it, this is not a question.
