The fire pit felt different without him.
Smaller, somehow. Quieter. Like Phei had taken all the oxygen when he walked off toward the admin building, leaving the four of them sitting on log benches with nothing to do but wait and pretend they weren't slowly suffocating on the fumes of their own denial.
Emily lasted approximately three minutes.
"You should go," Sierra said—not cruelly, just matter-of-factly, the way you'd tell an employee their shift was over and the store was closing in five. "We need to discuss some things. Privately."
The small girl practically vibrated with relief.
"Of course! Yes! Absolutely! I'll just—I'll go check on the—there's probably things I should—yes. Going now."
She fled.
Fled was the right word for it. The girl had been wound tighter than a watch spring since the moment the three of them had arrived, standing at attention like a soldier awaiting court martial, sweat visible on her temples despite the cool afternoon air.
