"Dignity," Bridie agreed. "And you're paying."
Rowan and Theo watched from a corner table, amused and oddly moved. Later, walking home through air that smelled like subway metal and blooming trees, Theo said, "Do we look like that to other people? Like a near-miss that found a different ending?"
"We look like unfinished work," Rowan said. "I prefer that. Finished work gets put on a shelf."
June was Ned's month in a way the calendar couldn't avoid. He invited Rowan and Theo for cocoa at the park even though the outdoor rink was down to maintenance mode, ice gone, boards naked in the sun. They stood where the Christmas tree had been and drank warm drinks that made no seasonal sense.
Ned carried a small envelope. Inside was a photograph of June on the same rink years earlier, mid-laugh, scarf flying, no pose held for anyone. "I don't show this often," he said. "But you two have been respectful of the living and the dead, which is rarer than good balance."
Rowan held the photo by its edges. "She's luminous."
"She hated that word," Ned said fondly. "She preferred 'busy.' Anyway. I didn't bring you here to make you sad. I brought you here to say that the December print of you two is going into the rink booth's winter scrapbook when Lottie opens the season again. If you object, say so now."
Theo glanced at Rowan. Rowan nodded. "No objection," she said. "As long as it's filed under practice, not destiny."
"I'll label it myself," Ned said. "Vale & Quill — mid-try."
July brought heat and the Minneapolis decision into sharper focus. Rowan flew out for three days to walk the rink, meet the staff, watch the junior skaters. She called Theo each night from a hotel room with aggressive air conditioning.
"It's a real program," she said on the second night. "They want someone who can build patiently. The ice is good. The city feels possible."
"And the escape-hatch question?" Theo asked, keeping his voice steady through the part of him that wanted to beg.
"Louder some hours, quieter others," Rowan said. "I'm writing it all down so I don't romanticize either choice."
On the third night she said, "If I take August, will you visit without turning every weekend into a referendum on whether I should come home?"
"Yes," Theo said. "I will visit as a person who likes you, not as a bailiff."