They settled for a brief embrace.
Then they sat across from each other.
Claire looked different. Not younger, not more beautiful, and not dramatically transformed.
She simply seemed less determined to prove something.
“I heard you hired two technicians,” she said.
“Three now.”
Her face brightened.
“That’s wonderful.”
“It’s going well.”
She nodded, then wrapped both hands around her coffee cup.
“I didn’t ask you here to talk about the business.”
“I assumed you didn’t.”
She gave a small, nervous laugh.
“I’ve rehearsed this conversation about twenty times.”
“Then I hope you remember the important parts.”
For the first time, she smiled naturally.
Then her expression became serious.
“I owe you an apology. Not because you survived Derek’s challenge. Not because Raymond told me about your service. And not because you’re doing well without me.”
Cole listened without interrupting.
“I owe you an apology because I treated your quietness as a defect. I decided that because you didn’t express yourself the way I wanted, you must not have much inside you.”
