There was one more possible solution he hadn’t tried. He realized it lying there in the hospital. It was so obvious. Hard to believe he hadn’t thought of it before. Sell the business. Or don’t even sell it. Just abandon it. Just don’t show up to the office one day. Quit Aspen. Quit Colorado. Hell, quit the country. Thousands of days hadn’t made him feel any better. Maybe thousands of miles would. He and Claudine amid a new landscape, new people, a new routine. They could slow down, breathe. Rest. Wasn’t that what the doctor had recommended? This was the dirty art of aging. He’d been spending so much time with Jules at the office lately, it was hard not to compare how thirty years look between faces. The soft glow of Jules’s young skin hadn’t been tortured with years of fighting internal demons. His name was on more than one of the deep lines near Claudine’s left eye, knowing it was a result of her selflessness, internalizing too much responsibility for what was Henry’s crime. But still, convincing Claudine would be hard. She refused to admit they were getting older, indulged in cutting-edge facials, and every week drank bottles of collagen. She certainly had no interest in retiring. This whole ordeal with the pop star proved how hell-bent she was to turn things around. Aspen and the business—that wasn’t just Claudine’s identity; it was her destiny. Henry knew that was how she saw it. How she had to see it in order to justify all that had happened to get them there.

He tried to bring up his plan that morning. It went as well as expected.

“Why don’t we go somewhere?”

“You know we can’t afford a vacation right now.”

“I don’t mean a vacation. I mean, why don’t we go somewhere for good? Leave Aspen.”

If Claudine was having an emotion about what he just said, her face wasn’t processing it. Then a small sigh of disappointment escaped her, and she said, “Pull yourself together, Henry. You’re needed tonight.”

Why couldn’t he say what he really wanted? Help me, Claudine. You saved me once. I need you to save me again—for good this time.

“And don’t forget your Secret Santa gift,” she said before leaving.