Justin kept his face neutral. “How is he?”
“Happy, I think. Producing a tour in Los Angeles. Dating someone who actually chooses him first, hopefully.”
“That seems wise.”
She smiled a little. “It was.”
Justin handed her a plate. Their fingers brushed.
Neither moved away.
“I’ve been thinking,” Zara said.
Dangerous words.
He waited.
“When Prince asks why you weren’t there when he was a baby, I don’t want to lie. But I also don’t want his first understanding of family to be poison.”
Justin nodded slowly.
“So what do we tell him?” she asked.
He leaned against the counter. “That adults can make terrible mistakes when fear gets dressed up as certainty. That I was wrong. That his grandmother did something cruel. That none of it had anything to do with him being wanted.”
Zara looked at him for a long moment. “And when he asks if I forgive you?”
Justin let out a breath. “Tell him the truth.”
“Which is?”
