I hadn’t planned to say it, hadn’t rehearsed it in the way I had imagined so many other things, but once it was out there, it felt like the only truth that mattered, the only thing that needed to be said in that moment. Lila’s expression shifted slightly, softening in a way that suggested she understood more than I had put into words.
“I know,” she said quietly.
There was a pause, the kind that settles into a space without being uncomfortable, but then it was interrupted by the presence of someone else, a figure who had been standing just far enough away to remain unobtrusive but close enough to step in when necessary. Officer Grant Whitaker had been assigned to oversee the visit, his posture straight, his expression neutral in a way that suggested years of maintaining boundaries that weren’t his to question.
“You’ve got a few minutes left,” he said, his tone measured, not unkind but firm in the way rules often are when they don’t allow room for negotiation.
I nodded automatically, though something in me resisted the idea that this moment was already nearing its end, that after everything, this was all I was going to get—a few minutes behind glass, a glimpse of a life I wasn’t allowed to fully step into yet.
