Page 45 of The Prime-Time Experiment

“If you would like to be present,” Riley continued, “your input would be valuable.”

“Like helping with the research?”

“If you’d like.”

Ebony’s expression brightened immediately. “I’ve never met someone like me before.”

Riley held her gaze. “Neither have I.”

For a moment neither of them looked away. Then Ebony smiled, wider this time. “I’d like that.”

Riley nodded once. “I think it would be invaluable to have another set of observations.”

The words were technically accurate, though they failed to capture the reason she meant them. Footsteps sounded in the hallway a moment later.

“Alright,” Tyler called as he reappeared in the doorway. “We’re gonna stay out of your way before Declan starts pretending this is a professional environment again.”

Declan rolled his eyes. “Out.”

Tyler grinned, entirely unbothered, then glanced down at Ebony. “Come on, kid. Let’s give them their very serious science time.”

Ebony hesitated, her attention returning briefly to Riley. “I’ll be upstairs.”

Riley nodded once. “I will be here.”

That seemed to satisfy her. Ebony followed Tyler back toward the stairs, Declan trailing behind them after a brief shake of his head. Their voices faded gradually through the house, dissolving into the quieter sounds of movement overhead.

Riley remained where she was. For a moment her attention lingered on the staircase long after Ebony had disappeared from view.

She had spent most of her life feeling like an outlier within every environment she entered. Meeting Ebony hadn’t changed that, but it had shifted something.

The feeling was unfamiliar enough that she was still examining it when footsteps returned on the stairs. Riley looked up. Declan was halfway back into the room. He slowed slightly when he saw her expression.

“Well,” he said, unable to stop the small smile that appeared on his own face. “That seems like it went alright.”

“It was constructive,” she said.

Declan’s eyebrows lifted. “Constructive?”

Riley’s gaze drifted briefly toward the staircase before returning to him. “Yes.”

Something about the simplicity of the answer made him smile a little wider. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I thought it might be.”

Riley’s gaze drifted briefly toward the staircase, lingering there for a moment.

“It’s not common,” she said eventually, her voice quieter than it had been earlier, “to meet someone who experiences the world the way I do.”

“No,” Declan agreed. “I imagine it wouldn’t be.”

The corner of her mouth twitched faintly. “Statistically, it is unlikely.”

A quiet laugh escaped him, and the silence that followed settled easily between them. Riley found herself letting it remain there rather than immediately filling it.

“You care about her a lot.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, but something softened in Declan’s expression all the same.

“Yeah,” he said simply. “I do.”

Riley studied him for a moment before continuing. “You aren’t her parent.”