“Three?”
He had become impossible.
At sixteen, Micah worked one summer at the Bellamy.
Simone made him apply.
Adrian interviewed him.
Simone stayed out.
Micah got a job in banquets.
Entry level.
He hated the uniform.
Loved the tips.
One evening he returned home exhausted.
“People are terrible.”
Simone smiled.
“Customers?”
“Yes.”
“One guy snapped his fingers at me.”
“What did you do?”
“Asked what he needed.”
“Good.”
“I wanted to pour soup on him.”
“Also understandable.”
Micah sat at the kitchen island.
“Being nice all day is hard.”
“Yes.”
He looked toward her.
“Was Caroline just tired?”
Simone froze.
Six years.
Still.
She considered.
“Probably partly.”
“Does that change it?”
“No.”
“Then why mention it?”
“Because understanding causes helps prevent repetition.”
“Understanding is not excusing.”
Micah nodded.
He had heard versions of that his whole life.
Then:
“Did she ever write again?”
“No.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“Last I heard, she was working in healthcare administration.”
“Happy?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked toward his hands.
“I used to hate her.”
“I know.”
“Now I mostly don’t think about her.”
Simone smiled.
“That’s healthy.”
“I remember the suitcase though.”
“So do I.”
Micah looked at her.
“I wasn’t scared when she kicked it.”
Simone raised an eyebrow.
“You grabbed my coat.”
“I was seven.”
“Yes.”
“I was worried security was going to arrest you.”
There.
The thing he had never said.
Simone’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I saw videos.”
She knew which kind.
Traffic stops.
Stores.
Public confrontations.
Children absorbed footage adults called awareness.
“I’m sorry.”
Micah shrugged.
“You didn’t do it.”
“No.”
“But I wish you hadn’t had to carry that fear into a hotel lobby.”
He looked toward her.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When the guard started walking over.”
Micah stared.
He had always imagined his mother in that scene as invulnerable.
Owner.
Powerful.
Calm.
Now:
“You were scared?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t look scared.”
“I was responsible for you.”
“That gave me somewhere to put the fear.”
Micah nodded.
Then laughed faintly.
“That sounds like something you’d say at a conference.”
“Go finish homework.”
He groaned.
Years passed.
The Bellamy became one of twelve hotels under Carter Meridian’s hospitality division.
Simone refused to name the collection after herself.