His sister's voice on the phone sounded exactly the same as always.
That was the problem.
Julian stood in the kitchen with the phone pressed to his ear, one hand still wrapped around the half-filled glass he had been pouring when it rang. The counter was cool under his palm. He had stepped away from the sitting room after Lucian left, the conversation from earlier still sitting between his ribs like something he hadn't quite swallowed.
The number had come up unfamiliar at first. He almost let it ring out. Then he saw the name attached to it and answered anyway, the way he always did when family called, quick, efficient, nothing more than necessary.
"Hey," she said. No warmth in it. Just the flat greeting they had used for years. "It's me."
Julian set the glass down. "Yeah. I saw."
A short pause on her end. The kind that used to stretch longer when they were younger and had even less to say to each other.
