"Hey, Cole. Did I wake you?" A good bet, given the time, but if I didn't do this now, I was worried I never would.

"Nothing good ever happened in a 6AM phone call." His voice was scratchy with sleep.

"I'm sorry that I shut you out."

"Me too."

This wasn't a jettison, it was a mercy. Cole really was my past. He belonged to a Nava who didn't exist anymore and trying to resurrect that relationship would end up as well as reanimating the dead.

My ...