The Question They Feared
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Boone slowly stood.
His chair scraped against the floor.
“Where is he?”
It wasn’t an angry question.
It wasn’t even a normal one.
It was a question that had lived inside him for years.
Lila looked toward the window.
Outside, the afternoon light had softened into a warm gold across the sidewalk.
“He can’t come here.”
Her words were gentle.
But they carried weight.
Rowan swallowed.
“Why not?”
Lila looked back at him.
Her face was calm, but her eyes seemed older than they should have been.
“He said some roads end before people are ready.”
No one at the table moved.
The waitress quietly set the coffee pot down.
A woman near the front booth pressed a napkin to her mouth.
Even those who didn’t understand the full story could sense that something important was unfolding.
Rowan lowered his head.
For a moment, he was no longer the quiet, imposing man at the back of the café.
He was simply someone who had spent years wishing he had spoken one more sentence to an old friend.
