The word sat in the concourse between them, enormous and plain. A woman with a neck pillow glanced over and then granted them the mercy of minding her business.
Jonah crouched so he was not speaking down from a man’s height. “Yeah,” he said. “I am. I didn’t know how to be one yet. I still don’t. But I’m not a cousin, and I’m not a stranger who says weird stuff in somebody’s kitchen. Your mom is my mom. Your grandpa and grandma raised me. It’s confusing on purpose. None of that is your fault.”
Mason considered this with the seriousness he brought to maps. “Are you getting on the plane?”
“Not today.”
“Is Mom?”
Lauren’s mouth opened. Derek answered first, gently. “Not today.”