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“Be nice,” I tell them.

“I am nice,” Miles says.

“You are loud.”

“That too.”

My mother laughs softly in the background. I smile at them and lean back against the sofa.

“I’m going to be working most of the day tomorrow, but I’ll call again before you go to bed if I can catch the timing right.”

“Are you going to be there for two weeks?” Wells asks.

“That’s the plan.”

Miles frowns. “That’s long.”

“It’ll go fast.”

“For you,” he says.

That lands harder than it should. I keep my face neutral.

“I’ll call every day I can,” I tell him.

“And Grandma, Grandpa and Hannah are all there if you need anything.”

“We know,” Wells says.

My mother shifts the phone again.

“You go get settled,” she says.

“They’re going to miss the bus if I let them keep talking.”

“Give them a kiss for me.”

“I will.”

“Love you both,” I tell the boys.

“Love you,” Wells says.

“Love you more,” Miles says.

“That is still not a competition.”

“It is still to me.”

I laugh and end the call. For a moment, the room feels too quiet. I sit there with the phone in my hand and look toward the windows.

This is why I came prepared.

The boys are covered. School is covered. Hannah knows the schedule. My parents know the schedule. Every client issue that needs attention from San Francisco is delegated or remote.

I am here to work. Nothing more complicated than that.

I move to the desk, open my laptop and pull up the files for tomorrow’s meeting with the Kensington collection administrators. There are names I don’t recognize, which is probably for the best.