Chapter 38. The Board

Wyatt’s POV

“I’m about to board,” I say into the phone. The gate at Logan is loud: my flight to New York already delayed twenty minutes, a crying kid, a man arguing about an upgrade. “I’ll be back tonight.”

Silence on the other end.

It’s Friday, 6:40 a.m. I’ve been awake since four. I called Tessa at 6:30 because I couldn’t stand it anymore, and she picked up on the fifth ring, and so far she’s said exactly two words: Hi and Okay.

“Tessa,” I say.

“I’m here.”

“About yesterday—”

“You don’t have to explain.” Her voice is careful. Flat. Like she’s talking to a professor. “You don’t want to tell me what happened. That’s your choice. I get it.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to.”

“Then what is it?”

I open my mouth. Close it. Through the window, they’re loading bags onto my plane. A guy in an orange vest throws a suitcase so hard it bounces.

If she’s going to stand beside my son in front of the council, I have