“Mike.”
“Relax. Vanessa gave it to me.”
Ethan stopped.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She found it during office cleanup.”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
“How is she?”
“Retiring next month.”
That surprised him.
“So soon?”
“She’s sixty-two.”
“Right.”
“Time happened.”
“Apparently.”
Mike became quiet.
“She wants to invite you.”
“To the retirement?”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked at the picture.
“Why?”
“Ask her.”
He almost declined.
Then something in him changed.
Ten years was enough distance.
He went.
The retirement reception took place inside the same hangar.
No countdown clock.
Ethan noticed immediately.
Mike met him at the door.
“You came.”
“Against my judgment.”
“Excellent.”
The hangar looked different.
New paint.
New equipment.
Some of the mechanics were strangers.
Others older.
Aaron, once the nervous junior mechanic, now ran avionics.
Janice supervised inspection.
Charles Wynn had left years earlier.
Vanessa stood near the jet wearing a dark blue suit.
She saw Ethan.
For a moment neither moved.
Then she approached.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“You look older.”
“So do you.”
She laughed.
“Fair.”
They shook hands.
No audience gathered.
People nearby continued conversations.
Vanessa looked toward the hangar.
“I thought about removing this place from the retirement tour.”
“Why?”
“Bad memories.”
Ethan smiled faintly.
“Not all bad.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You know, I spent years wishing you had stayed.”
“And now?”
“I’m glad you left.”
That surprised him.
“Why?”
“Because if you had come back immediately, I might have learned the wrong lesson.”
He waited.
“That I could apologize and restore the system without changing myself.”
Ethan nodded.
Vanessa continued.
“I was very good at solving consequences.”
She looked toward him.
“Not causes.”
“That’s common.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“Still difficult.”
“Still employed.”
“Technical director now?”
“Yes.”
“I heard.”
“Mike talks.”
“Constantly.”
They both looked toward him across the room.
Mike raised his glass.
Vanessa laughed.
“I owe you something.”
Ethan frowned.
“You already apologized.”
“Not that.”
She walked toward a covered object beside the wall.
She pulled away a cloth.