"Say that again."
Rebecca Marlowe stood across the kitchen counter from him, arms crossed, voice flat but certain.
Julian kept his hands on the edge of the counter. "I was there. The science museum trip. I remember the bus ride, the teacher losing her voice by the end of the day, the whole thing."
Rebecca shook her head once, slow and deliberate. "You didn't go on that trip."
The words landed without heat, without drama, just the quiet weight of someone stating a fact she had never questioned until now.
Julian held her gaze. "I was there."
Rebecca reached for the glass of water on the counter and took a sip and set it down again without looking away from him. "You had a fever, you stayed home and you didn't leave the couch all day."
Julian paused, the small hesitation registering only as a brief stillness in his shoulders. He did not argue, did not correct her again.
He simply let the statement sit between them while he turned it over.
