Then I'll call your dad and make him wake you up. Chloe smiled a little. He won't do that. He says I need my sleep. Then I'll leave you a voice message and you can listen to it in the morning.
That's not the same. I know. Selena sat down on the bed beside her. I know it's not the same, but it's the best I can do right now. Chloe picked at the blanket.
Are you coming back? The question hit Selena like a punch. Of course, I'm coming back. Why would you ask that? Because my mom didn't.
She said she was just going to stay at grandma's for a little while and then she never came back. Selena looked at Ethan standing in the doorway. He looked back, his expression unreadable. Your mom's situation was different, Selena said carefully. I'm going for work.
Just work. And then I'm coming back here to you and your dad. I promise. Promises don't always work. You're right.
They don't. But I'm going to keep this one anyway. She pulled Khloe into a hug. Two weeks, that's all. And then I'll be right back here annoying you with questions about dinosaurs.
Chloe hugged her back fierce and tight. You better. At the airport, Ethan walked Selena to security. They stood in the chaos of travelers and rolling suitcases and overhead announcements trying to find words that didn't feel like goodbye. Call me when you land, Ethan said.
I will. And if you need anything, I know I'll call. Selena adjusted her carry-on, stalling. Take care of Chloe. Always do.
I know. I just She stopped, started again. I'm going to miss you, both of you. We'll miss you, too. She kissed him, and this time it was softer.
A promise instead of a goodbye. Then she was gone, disappearing into the security line until Ethan couldn't see her anymore. He drove home through afternoon traffic, the passenger seat empty, and tried not to think about how quickly two weeks could turn into forever. The first few days were manageable. Selena called every night like she promised, her face pixelated on the video screen, but smiling.
She told them about the meetings, the office space they were building out, the chaos of trying to coordinate teams across three countries. Khloe showed her drawings she'd made at school. Ethan told her about the student who'd plagiarized an entire essay from Wikipedia. But by the end of the first week, the cracks started showing. "I can't tonight," Selena said on Thursday, her voice clipped and tired.
The meeting ran over and we're still not done. I'm sorry. It's fine, Ethan said, even though Khloe's face had already fallen. We understand. I'll call tomorrow.
I promise. She didn't call Friday or Saturday. When she finally called Sunday morning, Khloe refused to come to the phone. "She's mad at me," Selena said, and Ethan could hear the exhaustion in every word. "She's hurt.
There's a difference." I couldn't help it. The schedule here is insane. We're in meetings from 7:00 in the morning until midnight. I know. Do you?
Because you sound like you're angry, too. Ethan rubbed his eyes. I'm not angry. I'm just This is harder than I thought it would be. It's only been a week.
Exactly. It's only been a week and you've already missed three calls. What happens when it's been a month? 2 months. I'm doing my best, Ethan.
I know you are. But your best might not be enough. Silence on the other end, then quietly. What does that mean? It means I don't know how to do this.
I don't know how to explain to Chloe why you keep disappearing. I don't know how to keep pretending this is sustainable. So, what are you saying? You want me to come home, abandon the expansion, and come home? I'm saying I want you to be honest about what you can actually give us.
I'm giving you everything I have. Everything you have isn't here. It's in Singapore. is another silence longer this time. "I have to go," Selena said finally. There's another meeting in 10 minutes.
Of course, there is. She hung up without saying goodbye. Ethan stared at the blank screen and felt something break inside his chest. He'd known this would happen, known from the beginning that trying to hold on to someone like Selena was like trying to hold water in his hands. No matter how tight he gripped, she'd slip through.
Upstairs, Khloe was sitting on her bed, hugging her stuffed triceratops. "Is Selena coming back?" she asked. Ethan sat down beside her. "I don't know, sweetheart." "I thought you said she promised. She did promise, but sometimes promises get complicated.
That's a grown-up way of saying she lied." "She didn't lie. She's just trying to do too many things at once." Chloe looked at him with eyes that were far too old for a mom did that too. And then she left. Selena's not your mom. I know, but maybe she should be.
The words hit Ethan harder than anything Selena had said. He pulled Khloe close, holding her while she cried into his shoulder, and wondered how he'd let things get this far, how he'd let himself believe that someone from Selena's world could ever really fit into his. Selena came home two weeks later exactly as promised. She looked thinner, tired, like she'd been fighting a war and wasn't sure if she'd won. Khloe hugged her at the airport, but didn't say much on the drive home.
That night, after Khloe went to bed, Selena sat at the kitchen table with Ethan and tried to pretend everything was fine. "The expansion is going well," she said. "We're ahead of schedule. That's good. The team out there is incredible.
They're already generating revenue projections that beat our initial estimates. That's really good. She stopped talking, looked at him. You don't care. I care.
I just don't know what you want me to say. I want you to say you're proud of me. I want you to say you understand why this matters. I am proud of you and I do understand, but that doesn't change the fact that you were gone for two weeks and barely called. It doesn't change the fact that Khloe cried herself to sleep twice because she thought you weren't coming back.