After Damian left the library, Kendrick sat alone for a long time.
He didn't move immediately.
He sat with his hands flat on the table where Damian's had been.
He looked at the signed guardianship provision.
At the documents they had spread across the table.
At the coffee that had gone cold an hour ago.
He sat with the four words he had said.
Thank you for telling me.
He thought about whether they were enough.
He thought they were the right words.
He was less sure they were sufficient.
-----
He had dealt with a lot of difficult information in his professional life.
Crises.
Board coups.
Two attempted hostile takeovers.
A financial collapse in the eastern subsidiary four years ago that had required six weeks of very careful management to resolve without public exposure.
He had sat in rooms where people told him things designed to destabilize him — designed to shake his confidence, unsettle his judgment, introduce doubt into the decisions he had been making.
