“The basic fact is that I should have been here. I have no excuse. There is no excuse.” He looked down at the ground, scuffing his foot across the pavement. “I mean, there is a reason. But it’s not an excuse.” “Owen,” I said. “It’s—” “Something happened.” He sighed, shaking his head. His face was flushed, and he was still fidgeting. “Something stupid. I made a mistake, and—” Then, and only then, did I put it altogether. His absence. This shuffling embarrassment. And Will Cash’s black eye. Oh my God, I thought.
