[Stranger than their circumstances is this: Joel, suddenly looking cowed enough to avoid eye contact while making a point to face her. Evelyn is impossibly unprepared for what he says, nearly stopping in the middle of the hall before stutter-starting once more. It is so unlike Joel to broach subjects with her, let alone this subject, one he dismantled faster than she could imagine when last it rested between them.
But it occurs to Evelyn that he isn't aware. That for the last many weeks he has been as blissfully ignorant of the network as usual, that he hasn't seen. Words that want to begin as an acceptance for the apology that blindsides her come out instead as:]
Joel, I'm- I'm sorry, I thought you knew.
[A hand touches his forearm, brief and carefully light.]
My son is here. He's been here for almost two months, now.
no subject
But it occurs to Evelyn that he isn't aware. That for the last many weeks he has been as blissfully ignorant of the network as usual, that he hasn't seen. Words that want to begin as an acceptance for the apology that blindsides her come out instead as:]
Joel, I'm- I'm sorry, I thought you knew.
[A hand touches his forearm, brief and carefully light.]
My son is here. He's been here for almost two months, now.