curtain opened.
He sat quietly in the back row.
No dramatic entrance.
No speeches.
He simply applauded when the children appeared on stage.
Leo saw him.
For Alex, that was enough.
Months passed.
Elena eventually allowed him to pick up the kids on selected Saturdays.
For his first solo outing, Alex prepared four backpacks.
Four labeled water bottles.
A color-coded itinerary.
And a detailed printed schedule.
Elena stared at the paper.
“You still make spreadsheets for absolutely everything.”
Alex looked at his carefully planned schedule.
Then he crumpled it.
“I
