She stopped. Her jaw moved slightly like she was selecting from several things she could say. I don't do this. Whatever this is. I don't do this.
Neither do I. Good. Good. A pause. She's a remarkable kid.
Natalie said her voice was lower now. Steadier than it should have been for what she was actually saying. She sees things. The thing she said in the first session about the figure who left something behind and wasn't sure if she should go back and get it. She wasn't talking about the figure.
I know she was talking about herself, but she was also talking about she stopped again. Caleb didn't push. He waited. She picked up the sentence differently. I grew up with money, not the way I have now, but comfortable.
My father was a surgeon. My mother managed the life that happens around a surgeon's schedule, which is its own full-time job. I was the child who did well. Grades, tests, achievements. I was very good at doing well.
And somewhere in the process of doing well, I stopped being someone who knew how to stop. He listened without moving. I built the company because I had an idea and I couldn't not build it. I scaled it because the alternative was to look around at my life and notice what wasn't in it. I hired excellent people.
I made excellent decisions. And now I'm 29 years old and I own four apartments in three cities. And I can't remember the last time I was somewhere because I wanted to be there and not because I needed to be. The quiet stretched. I'm at the park on a Saturday, Caleb said slowly.
Because Ava wanted to go to the park. She looked at him. I know. I noticed. She said it simply without weight.
I noticed because I used to know how to be in a park. Because I wanted to be in a park. I used to know that. I don't anymore. And I don't know exactly when I lost it.
What were you doing there? Walking. Marcus, one of my security team had been following me for 40 minutes through four different parts of the city. I couldn't tell you where I was going. I couldn't tell you why.
I just needed to be somewhere that wasn't a meeting room or an airport. He looked at her for a long moment. You were lost. I was very, very lost. A short exhale that was almost a laugh except without the humor.