ar

ince I last walked

yet distant, like a drea

ject, a world away from the quiet, rugged beauty of

wife, and Lily, our

an Cole, is

nd familiar, cut t

Mark trailing behind her, st

," I said, managi

Carol gushed, her eyes scanning me up and down. "Are

ight after you disappeared. Heard she even said, through Spence, of course, that if you came crawlin

taste I thought I'd fo

That' s what

steady. "To a woman named Clara. We've been marr

f, then a flicker of disap

humiliation like

the spotlight, Izz

the verge of winning a major architectu

the night my world

owerful father, had "rea

y," a challenging revitalization proje

ng, a way to get me out

nexpectedly, l

ition, all fueled by one goal:

, an unspoken understanding h

background, she, the golden daughte

ies, my designs, driven by the i

my affection. She enjoyed my devotion, the

ce Sterli

althy, cut from the same

thing I wasn

l immediately, and

dge between Izzy and me, sub

ety and her family's expectations, became enchanted

ga

gious Thornton Prize. I asked Izzy

late, on S

d at me, a quick

o her, to understand, she cut

and cold, carrying across the hushed ballroom. "That was

public slap

eside her, a look of

nning of the end,