I said there was a family matter.

The phrase struck me as strange: in a single afternoon, I had gone from assuming I had no family beyond the relatives I rarely saw to wondering whether a child had been growing up without me.

I walked to a quiet window overlooking the runway and finally called my mother, Victoria Calloway.

She answered on the second ring.

“Preston.

Did you land?

Your father says the board needs you in Chicago by Monday.”