time, Darla didn’t argue. She picked up her handbag and moved down the aisle while passengers watched in complete silence. The same woman who had loudly told Evan to “find the back” now kept her eyes fixed on the floor.
But before she reached seat 4C, her husband called again.
“Darla, what exactly did you say to him?”
She hesitated.
“I told him he didn’t belong in first class.”
The silence on the phone was immediate.
Then her husband said something that made her stop walking.
“You said that to Evan Cole?”
Darla closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Her husband exhaled gradually. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Darla turned to Evan. He was looking out the window, composed, as though none of this concerned him. But then his phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen and answered.
“Good morning, Daniel.”
Darla recognized her husband’s voice coming through the
