Chương 20
“I said I will.”
Henry’s phone buzzed again.
He ignored it.
Ruth took the black gift bag from the coffee table and carried it to the sofa. She sat beside Evelyn, then pulled the watch from its tissue paper.
The lid had a tiny dent near the hinge.
Evelyn stared at it.
“I made that,” she said.
Daniel looked over.
“When I was twelve. Mom let me hold it, and I dropped it on the bathroom tile. I cried for an hour.”
Ruth turned the watch over gently.
The dent was small enough to miss unless someone knew where to look.
Daniel felt something loosen in his chest. Not relief. Relief was too generous a word. More like the sudden removal of a shelf he had leaned against for half his life.
His father had lied.
Henry had lied.
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His mother had known enough to be afraid.
And Daniel had built an entire version of himself around being the son who would never look away again.
