Champagne already flat

They left before the last movement. Treaty candles guttered. The champagne went flat before I finished the phrase. I played Atrium After Hours anyway — for gilt chairs and the city glow through Spire glass. Ellis did not apologize for the guest list. I did not ask him to.

Come-down hours on KFAD are not a consolation prize. They are the hour the room finally behaves. I straighten one cufflink. I name the song after the room. I exit before anyone tries a toast over music that was never meant for speeches.

If you stayed, thank you. If you left early, the hush still billed your attaché.