And the day I asked that question honestly, the beautiful house rearranged itself around me into what it had always been, which was a very expensive, very comfortable, very well-appointed cell.

Chapter 8 — This Is a Departure

Fifteen minutes after I had walked out of the dining room, I came back to the top of the staircase with a child’s hand in each of mine and three suitcases waiting behind me.

And Brandon stood at the bottom of the stairs, and for the first time that entire evening, his face was nakedly honest, because it was nakedly shocked.

“What,” he said, staring at the luggage, “do you think you are doing?”

“This,” I said, “is a departure.”