Her expression changed as I spoke.
The softness in it hardened into disbelief, then anger.
By the time I finished, she looked like she was holding herself back from marching deeper into the office and setting the building on fire with her eyes.
“That man fired you for helping me live long enough to see my grandchildren again?”
I gave a tired smile.
“When you put it like that, it sounds bad.”
“It is bad.”
I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Well, what’s done is done.”
She studied me for a moment.
Then her face gentled.
“What is your name in full?”
“Sebastian Carter.”
“Sebastian Carter,” she repeated, like she was committing it to memory. “My name is Evelyn Parker.”
“Nice to meet you properly.”
She squeezed my arm.
“No, it isn’t. It’s awful to meet you under these circumstances.”
I laughed again, weakly.
She nodded toward my box.
“Before you go upstairs and pack your things, would you have a few minutes to talk?”
I looked toward the stairs.
Looked back at her.
“I guess I’ve got plenty of time now.”
That got a sad smile out of her.
We sat in the little lobby waiting area beneath a framed print of a city skyline that had always looked depressing to me.
Evelyn told me she had experienced what doctors called a serious cardiac event.
Not a full heart attack, but close enough that minutes had mattered.
Very much.
She said the emergency team told her that if she had kept walking alone much longer, or if help had come later, the outcome might have been very different.
“I remember your face,” she said. “Not clearly. But enough. I remember you asking if I was okay. I remember you catching me.”
I looked down at my hands.
“I’m just glad you’re here.”
She tilted her head.
“What do you do exactly?”
“Client outreach. Campaign strategy. A little of everything. Small agency life.”
“Do you like it?”
The question hit me harder than I expected.
Liked.
Past tense, maybe.
Present tense, still.
I swallowed.
