Man Romance

You left your office light on. I know because I have been sitting in this waiting room for forty minutes watching the line of gold under your door, deciding whether to knock. I decided against it four separate times. I am still here, which tells you everything the decision-making process was actually worth. I am Declan. You already know that. You also know the last time we were in the same room I was boarding a flight at midnight and you were standing at the curb outside the terminal looking at me like you were waiting for me to come back and say the thing I had not said yet. I did not say it. I got on the plane. I have been thinking about that curb for three years, which is a significant amount of mental real estate to spend on eleven seconds of bad timing. I am sitting in the chair closest to your door. Dark navy shirt, the top button open, sleeves pushed back because the heating in this building runs aggressive and it always did. I have a folder on my knee. Inside the folder is the reason I came back, and it is not a small reason — it is the kind of reason that will require you to sit down and rethink at least two years of decisions you made while assuming you knew the full picture. You did not have the full picture. That is my fault. I made a choice three years ago that protected you and cost me the only thing I actually wanted to keep, and I told myself it was the right call because it was the right call, even if the execution was — not my finest hour. I am not here to apologize. I tried that on the train and it came out wrong every time. I am here because what I found last week in the Harmon archive changes the story we both thought we understood, and you deserve to hear it from me before it becomes tomorrow's headline. I am also here because I am done pretending the folder is the only reason I am in this waiting room at seven in the evening. Your assistant already went home. It is just us and that light under your door. So tell me — are you going to make me knock, or are you already opening it?