Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Julian
Months later, California no longer feels temporary.
I am in the back seat of a Blackwell car outside Theo’s school when the final bell rings, answering a call from New York while watching children spill through the gates in uneven clusters.
My schedule used to be built around board meetings, investor calls, and whichever city required me most. Now there is a recurring block on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons that Tamara has learned not to move unless the building is actually on fire.
Adrian is speaking through the phone about a financing issue when I see Theo emerge with his backpack hanging from one shoulder.
“I’ll review the numbers tonight,” I tell him.
Adrian pauses.
“You’re cutting me off?”
“I’m picking up my son.”
His tone changes immediately.
“Right. Go.”
“I’ll call you later.”
“You always say that.”
“I usually do.”
Adrian laughs once.
“Fine. Tell Theo his uncle still expects a rematch.”
“I’m not getting involved in whatever competition you started with a seven-year-old.”
“You already are.”
I end the call before he can continue and step out of the car.
Theo spots me almost immediately.
He does not run over dramatically or announce me to the entire sidewalk. He simply changes direction and walks toward me with the same expectation he now has when I am supposed to be here.
“You’re early,” he says.
“Two minutes.”
“That is early.”
“Your standards are demanding.”
Theo adjusts his backpack.
“Mom says being late is rude.”
“Your mother says a lot of things.”
He gives me a look that is disturbingly familiar.
“She is usually right.”
I take his backpack before he can object and open the rear door for him.
“Do not tell her I agreed with that.”
Theo climbs inside. “I probably will.”
I shut the door and walk around to the other side.
This has become normal faster than I expected.
Not easy.
Normal. There is a difference.
I still spend part of every week working between the California offices and the Silicon Valley campus.
I rent an apartment only one mile from Sophie’s townhouse and close to Theo’s school.
I still fly to New York when the board requires me physically present, and I remain Executive Chairman whether I am in Manhattan or Los Angeles.
What changed is that I no longer assume every important meeting belongs on the East Coast. Some of them belong here.
Theo pulls a folded sheet of paper from his backpack as the car moves away from the school.
“I got a ninety-four.”
I take the paper from him.
“Science?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the other six points?”
Theo frowns.
“That’s exactly what Mom said.”
I look at him. “Then answer the question.”
“I labeled one thing wrong.”
“Did you know it was wrong?”
“After she marked it.”
“That is generally when people discover these things.”
Theo rolls his eyes and takes the paper back.
We stop at a light. He leans forward slightly.
“Can we work on the car tonight?”
The “car” is a small battery-powered model currently occupying half of one of Sophie’s side tables because Theo insists the wheels are not aligned properly.
“If your homework is done.”
“It will be.”
“That is not the same as it being done.”
“I can finish it fast.”
“You can finish it correctly.”
Theo sighs as if I have personally destroyed his evening.
I look out the window so he does not see me smile.
Sophie texts a few minutes later.
Sophie: Did he remember his jacket?
I glance at Theo.
“Where is your jacket?”
His expression tells me everything.
“At school.”
I type back.
Julian: No.
Her response appears almost immediately.
Sophie: Of course.
I look at Theo. “Your mother predicted this.”
“I was hot.”
“That is an explanation, not a defense.”
He leans back against the seat.
“Can we get it tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
He nods, satisfied.
By the time we reach Sophie’s townhouse, Theo is telling me about a classmate who insists the model bridge they are building should use more glue. I barely understand why this has become a matter of principle, but I listen anyway because apparently this is part of my life now too.
Sophie opens the door before we reach it.
Her gaze moves from Theo to me, then down to the missing jacket.
“I see we failed the first assignment.”
Theo walks past her. “I forgot.”
Sophie looks at me.
“I was not there when he left the classroom.”
“You are very quick to establish jurisdiction.”
“I have learned from you.”
Her mouth curves.
The look lasts only a second, but I feel it anyway.
Theo disappears toward the kitchen and calls back, “Can we do the car after homework?”
Sophie raises her voice. “Homework first.”
“I already told him.”
She looks at me again. “Good.”
I step inside.
There was a time when entering this house felt like crossing into a life I did not understand. Now my jacket is already hanging in the hall closet. My coffee is in the kitchen. Theo’s unfinished project is waiting on the side table, exactly where we left it.
Somewhere between all the flights, meetings, pickups, dinners, and ordinary afternoons, I stopped feeling like a visitor.
***
By Saturday evening, Sophie’s townhouse is full in a way that feels familiar to everyone except me.
Emma comes by with food, Maya and Tom arrive with the twins, and for a few hours the house settles into the easy rhythm of people who have known each other long enough not to perform for one another.
I mostly listen, stepping in where I can without trying to force myself into a place that is still new.
What matters is not the conversation. It is the fact that no one treats my presence like an emergency anymore.
Emma still watches me carefully, but there is less suspicion in it now.
Maya does not soften simply because I am Theo’s father, yet she no longer looks at me as if I am one bad decision away from disappearing.
I have not earned complete trust from either of them, but I have earned enough that they let me stand inside the life Sophie built without questioning every movement.
Theo spends most of the evening moving between the living room and the kitchen with the twins, more interested in them than in any of the adults. Every so often, he checks where I am without making a point of it. I notice because a few weeks ago he did not expect me to be anywhere at all.
Later, as the evening starts to wind down, Maya reminds Sophie that she and Tom are taking Theo with the twins for the rest of the weekend. They already have plans the next morning, and Theo has been talking about the trip for days.
Sophie walks them to the door while Theo disappears upstairs to grab the overnight bag he packed earlier.
When he comes back down, he hugs Sophie first, then looks at me.
“See you Sunday?”
“I’ll be here,” I tell him.
Theo nods, satisfied, and follows the twins outside.
Emma leaves a few minutes later, and Maya gives Sophie one last look before she and Tom head toward the car with the kids.
Then the front door closes and the house becomes quiet almost immediately. Sophie stays near the entryway for a moment before turning toward me. For the first time all evening, there is no one else in the house. Just us.
She walks into the living room and lowers herself onto the sofa. I sit beside her, leaving enough space that she doesn’t feel crowded, although every instinct in me is aware of exactly how close she is.
For a few moments, neither of us speaks.
Then I look at her.
“We’ve spent almost every conversation since I found out about Theo talking about him.”
Sophie nods. “We needed to.”
“I know.”
I rest my forearms against my knees and glance down at my hands before looking back at her.
“But I need you to understand something.”
Her expression shifts. “What?”
“Being his father doesn’t give me a claim on you.”
Sophie watches me carefully.
“I don’t want you trying to rebuild something with me because you feel guilty,” I continue.
“And I don’t want you convincing yourself Theo needs us to become some perfect family because that makes the last seven years easier to explain.”
Her eyes lower for a second.
“That’s part of what scares me,” she says.
“What part?”
“All of it.” Sophie leans back against the sofa and exhales.
“There’s so much history between us that I don’t always know what I’m reacting to anymore. There’s guilt, there’s grief, there’s what happened between us before, there’s Theo, and then there’s the fact that I still want you.”
Her voice softens on the last words.
Heat moves through me immediately, but I keep my eyes on hers.
“Those aren’t all the same thing,” I tell her.
“I know.”
“Then we don’t have to treat them like they are.”
Sophie gives me a small, uncertain smile.
“You make that sound easier than it is.”
“It isn’t easy.”
“No.”
“But I know what I feel.”
Her expression changes slightly.
I shift closer.
“I’ve been trying not to say too much because everything with Theo is already enormous, and the last thing I want is for you to think I’m confusing one thing with another.”
Sophie looks at me.
“What are you trying to say?”
I sit back for half a second, then decide there’s no point in protecting myself anymore.
“The truth is, when we were together before, I was falling in love with you.”
Her breath catches.
I keep going because if I stop now, I’ll probably never say it the way I need to.
“When you disappeared, something in my life went quiet. I filled every hour I had. Work, travel, the company, everything I knew how to control. I built more, achieved more, kept moving, and none of it changed the fact that there was always something missing.”
Sophie’s eyes shine, but she doesn’t look away.
“Julian…”
“I’m not saying Camille didn’t matter. She did. I cared about her. But even when my life looked complete from the outside, there was still this space I couldn’t explain.”
I lift my hand and touch Sophie’s face, brushing my thumb slowly along her cheek.
“Now I can.”
Her lips part slightly.
I move a little closer.
“Being here with you, being here with Theo, it feels like something in me finally stopped fighting itself.”
Sophie’s hand comes up and closes around my wrist.