“You were a real drain on the family. Everything was about you,” Danny said, tongue in cheek. A recognition of what they’d given up for him. Then Danny’s face turned serious. “Matty, I want you to know that—”

Matt held up a hand. “Don’t.”

Danny swallowed, stared at his brother, mist in his eyes.

“Interrupting something, ladies?” a voice said.

Matt turned and saw Ganesh squinting at the sun. Behind him, Kala, looking exquisite, her skin bathed in golden sunlight. They pulled up two chairs at the small table, Kala wedging herself close to Matt.

Matt looked over at his brother, who gave him a small nod of approval.

“Where is everybody?” Matt asked. He’d invited the entire gang from Rubin Hall.

Ganesh shrugged. “Curtis is probably at a meeting for his cult, and watching the sunset is probably too symbolic of toxic masculinity in the patriarchy for Sofia. And we don’t want Woo-jin here; he’ll block the sun.”

“Remind me,” Matt said, “why are we friends with this guy?”

Kala shook her head like she hadn’t the foggiest. “They’re on their way,” she said.

Ganesh disappeared into the bar. Danny then stood, put some money on the table.

“Where are you going?” Matt said. “You’re gonna miss it.”

People were making their way into the street, smartphones in the air, twisting around to catch themselves in photos of the sun as it centered between the buildings.

“I just love to walk out here in the open,” Danny said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Matt watched Danny make his way down the street, his back to the sun, still that cocksure strut. He had a limp now, a remnant from the prison attack, but otherwise it was still the stride of a confident man. Two girls stopped Danny, said something, like they recognized him from all the coverage of his release from prison. Danny took a selfie with them, then kept moving.

Matt had only one regret: that his father wasn’t there to see the sight.

Kala reached for his hand.

A car pulled next to their table. The street was jammed with pedestrians filling their Instagram feeds with photos of the sun slowly dipping below the horizon. The car’s windows were down, music blaring.

“Numb” by Linkin Park.

“Everything okay?” Kala asked.

Matt looked her in the eyes.

Those eyes.

“It is now.”

SARAH KELLER

AFTER

“I’m scared,” Keller said quietly into her satellite phone.

“No shit, I’m scared too, and I’m three thousand miles away, not in some hut in Colombia,” Bob said.

He never tried to tell her how to feel, always validated her emotions, which was weirdly comforting. Keller never used to be afraid of anything. But that was before she had so much to lose.

“Is the Texan there?” Bob asked.