supposed to hear.
Then my sister Charlotte appeared from the lobby, heels clicking on the polished floor behind her.
“Oh, Maya,” she said, already sounding worried. “You came.”
There was that tone again.
Not happiness.
Concern.
The kind people use when they have already decided your life is a problem they need to manage.
“Of course I came.”
Charlotte touched my arm.
“Did you talk to Dad? Because he really didn’t think this was a good idea.”
“What wasn’t a good idea?”
“This,” Derek said, gesturing at me like I