He offered me a slice of apple without looking up from the manual.

The gesture was so ordinary that it left me speechless.

In the military, I had been responsible for equipment worth more money than I could imagine.

I had carried the expectations of entire teams.

Yet this invitation to share breakfast with a child felt like a trust I hadn’t earned.

Mason asked whether I had ever been to space.

Then whether the moon had mountains.

Then whether grown-ups could still get scared.