“Thursday,” I promised.

I stood beside the road until their car disappeared.

Then I drove back to the office, where a major acquisition was waiting for my attention.

I signed the papers, reviewed the risk figures, and returned Raymond’s calls.

Work still mattered.

It simply no longer swallowed everything else.

That evening, I opened the drawer where I had kept Hannah’s note.

I placed it beside the ultrasound photograph she’d allowed me to copy and the most recent drawing from Elias.