"Hi," Owen said simply, his voice firm and calm.
Elizabeth was the first to move. Her lips trembled slightly, as if she had many words to say and didn't know where to begin. She slowly stood up, and for a moment Owen thought she was going to hug him.
But she didn't.
She only took a step toward him and looked at him with wet eyes, filled with restrained emotion.
"You came," she murmured. There was no reproach in her voice, only a soft amazement at seeing that they hadn't had to look for him, he had come to them first.
Owen nodded and raised an eyebrow.
Sarah was next. She got up with awkward movements, as if she didn't know what to do with her hands. Her expression was a mix of confusion and relief, her gaze fixed on her brother with an intensity that was hard to bear.
"You look…" Sarah began, but didn't finish the sentence.
"Clean? Sober? Nothing in my system?" Owen finished it for her, using his dark humor to try to ease the strangeness of the moment.
The words hung in the air like a silent bomb. Elizabeth frowned. James narrowed his eyes. Edward merely pressed his lips together. Sarah stared at him, unsure whether to laugh or feel uneasy.
Emily, behind him, gave him a strange look.
"Ahem… sorry, bad joke," Owen said, coughing lightly.
"So, what's going on? Why are you all looking at me like I just rose from the dead?" Owen asked.
"We saw your videos," Edward said. His tone was low but clear.
"All three," Elizabeth added, "The first short film, the one with the paper airplane… and the movie trailer."
Owen nodded as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
"Yeah… I've been working on that these past months. Trying to do something different. Something that made sense so I'd stop sinking," Owen said, and his whole family looked down at the floor at his answer.
Owen had noticed the shift.
He had expected something else. Hard looks, reproaches hidden between passive-aggressive phrases, uncomfortable questions. Maybe even a restrained gesture of disappointment. But no. None of that.
The expressions he found in front of him were different. They were… guilty, as if they were afraid to confront him or meet his eyes directly.
"Did you write them?" James asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Yes, all three. The first one I worked on was the feature film. A few weeks ago we finished post-production and sent the final cut to Palm Springs," Owen replied with a nod.
"But how? Who financed you?" James asked, knowing full well that making films was anything but cheap.
"No one. I did it with the money I got from selling the BMW I was given when I turned eighteen. So thanks for that," Owen answered with a faint smile, turning his head toward his parents.
"I guess, in a way, you two helped finance my movie," he added, trying to inject some humor.
Elizabeth averted her gaze, pressing her lips together. Edward didn't even respond with words, he just lowered his head slightly, as if that were enough to hide the guilt that crossed his face.
"It's not a reproach…" Owen said, noticing their tense reactions. "The money also helped me pay rent, buy food, and look for auditions while I worked on the feature."
Owen turned toward Sarah, his sister, who was already crying from the reunion. When their eyes met, she walked toward him and hugged him tightly, her face buried in his chest.
Owen accepted the gesture with a soft smile, and while stroking her head, he joked, "You were always a crybaby. Even if you try to act tough with your friends at school."
Sarah laughed through her sobs, gave him a light punch on the shoulder, and muttered with a trembling smile, "Shut up."
While everyone looked at him with a mix of discomfort, pride, and reserve, and Sarah kept crying against his chest, Owen thought about his next words.
"I came here to ask for your forgiveness for all the trouble I caused you… And also to invite you to Palm Springs. The film has its midnight screening, and on the second day will be the first showing, then the second on the sixth day," Owen said.
Edward was the first to react. Not with words, but with a barely gesture, he nodded.
He was wrestling with himself, with guilt, and with the fact that his son had the dignity to show up humbly, apologize, and extend an invitation instead of reproach.
'He's matured,' Edward thought, feeling pride as he looked at Owen.
Elizabeth spoke once she managed to compose herself from the emotional impact.
"Thank you for… coming back," she said, her voice soft, carrying that restrained tenderness only a mother can convey when pride and sorrow intertwine. "And thank you for inviting us. We'll be there."
"Well… I'll go too," James said, rubbing the back of his neck, uncomfortable.
"Me too," Sarah said with a smile, finally stopping her tears.
Owen gave a slight nod, his smile measured.
"There's just one detail," he added. "The two free guest passes the festival gave me… I already handed them out. So you'll all have to buy your tickets."
The mood didn't break, but there was a pause. The family looked at him with some surprise, more because of the formality of the remark than anything else.
Sarah lifted her gaze, genuinely curious. "And who did you give them to?" she asked.
Owen went on to explain briefly that one of the guests was Cristian, an A24 executive he knew since he had sold a script to that production company.
And Cristian had asked him for the first cut of Paranormal Activity, seeming interested in the film. The other pass had gone to a colleague of Cristian's, whose identity he didn't yet know, but who was also part of A24's development team.
The reaction was immediate and varied.
Edward raised his eyebrows in surprise. Elizabeth brought a hand to her lips, as if holding back a "wow." Even James, though he tried to keep a serious face, couldn't help but show a hint of respect at what he had just heard. The name A24 carried weight.
This could mean Owen's film might get distribution, and if that happened, considering it was A24, it was almost certain the movie would turn a profit, given its tiny budget of $20,000.
And since A24 had already bought a script from Owen, it meant his Paranormal Activity screenplay had quality. So the film, though made with so little money, had to be good.
Sarah looked at Owen with admiration, just like in the past. Her brother hadn't just come back, hadn't just rebuilt himself, he was moving forward in leaps and bounds.
When Owen finally pulled away from Sarah, she discreetly wiped her tears.
"Are you leaving already?" she asked, trying to sound casual, but unable to hide the disappointment.
"Yes," Owen replied.
"Don't you want to stay for dinner?" Elizabeth asked, not insistent, but with a timid hope in her voice.
The room fell silent for a few seconds. Everyone looked at Owen, expectant. Even James, who rarely showed interest in that sort of thing, seemed to hold his breath waiting for his answer.
Owen shook his head politely. "I can't. I have a date."
"A date? With who?" Sarah asked, raising her eyebrows with immediate interest.
"With my girlfriend," Owen replied.
There was a moment of collective surprise.
"By any chance, is it the girl from the Paperman and Paranormal Activity trailer?" Elizabeth asked on a hunch.
"Yes, the same one," Owen confirmed.
Elizabeth smiled. She had immediately noticed in both trailers the chemistry between them. It was comforting to see that her son had not only gotten back on his professional path, but had also found companionship in someone who seemed to share that same artistic passion.
"She seems like a lovely girl," Elizabeth said at last.
"Yes, she is."
"I want to meet her. If you're going to have a girlfriend, at least let me judge her in person," Sarah said, quickly slipping back into her bossy tone.
"You'll meet her in a few days and you'll be able to judge all you want. See you in Palm Springs," Owen said as he headed for the door.
Everyone stood up almost at the same time. No one wanted him to leave so soon, though none of them said it out loud.
"Did you walk here?" Edward asked, frowning. "Or… Uber?"
"Uber…" Owen answered.
Without another word, Edward grabbed his keys from the entryway. "I'll drive you."
"There's no need. Really."
"I insist."
Elizabeth came closer immediately. "I'm going too. I don't want your father turning this into an interrogation. Besides, I haven't been out all day."
"I'm coming as well," Sarah said, raising her hand. "I'm bored. And I want to see where you live."
'Are they all coming…?' Owen thought, raising an eyebrow.
"I'll pass. There's no room anyway. Emily and I are heading out, but we'll see you at the festival," James said.
The car ride was quiet at first. Elizabeth stared out the window, Sarah sat in the back seat with her phone in her hand, though she wasn't typing anything, just sneaking glances at Owen.
Edward, behind the wheel, occasionally stole quick looks at his son.
When they reached the neighborhood where Owen was living now, Edward noticed the difference immediately. It wasn't a bad area, but clearly more modest.
He parked in front of Owen's building. He looked at the façade with a neutral expression, though inside he felt something different: a quiet pride.
He used to pay for Owen's rent in a more expensive neighborhood, but now his son lived in a simpler place, and as a finance man, that gave him pride, seeing his son use money wisely.
"Well, this is the place," Owen said.
Elizabeth hugged him once more. Sarah too, and Edward gave him a pat on the shoulder. A simple gesture, but one that carried more words than he could say at that moment.
Owen got out of the car and walked to the building's main door. Just as he was about to close it, he turned one last time and raised his hand in farewell. His family was still there, sitting in the car, watching him.
He took the elevator, and when he reached his apartment, he found Matt on the couch, feet on the coffee table, a beer can in hand, and the TV on at low volume. As soon as he heard the door close, he glanced toward Owen and lowered the can.
"So? How did it go?" Matt asked, straight to the point.
"Much easier than I expected, honestly," Owen replied, sitting down on the couch.
He had expected that when his family saw him, they would say something like: "Get out of here, you dishonorable junkie bastard!" Maybe not that aggressive, but he had expected rejection or coldness.
But it was the opposite. They seemed to carry guilt and a quiet longing for reconciliation. Even his older brother, who had always been the hardest on the original Owen.
The original Owen had been a boy raised in luxury, with an easy path paved for him, but who, for many reasons, strayed. And when he was finally kicked out of the house, it was clear he wouldn't have lasted long on his own.
Most likely, after a few days without money, without comfort, without support, he would have come crawling back, begging for forgiveness or help. And the family would have given it to him, he was 100% sure.
Elizabeth and Edward wouldn't have let Owen starve or lose the luxuries he was used to, even if they knew it was an act and that he would just repeat the same mistakes.
Because they weren't cruel. They were just hurt.
But he… he wasn't that Owen. He never came back with his head down. He never asked. He never knocked on the door, never called in four months.
And on the other side, neither did they.
Maybe they expected him to return. To ask forgiveness. And since he didn't, they let him go, thinking that somehow he was managing to grow up and move forward.
"Cheers," Matt said, handing him a beer can that Owen accepted.
That's how the days passed, until the second day of the Palm Springs Festival arrived, the night when Paranormal Activity would be screened for the first time in a movie theater.
...
Here ends Owen's reconciliation with his family. It took me more chapters than I expected, but I felt it was important to give each member their own space before showing the reunion itself. I did this because I plan for all of them to play a key role later on, when Owen starts his own film production company and the family becomes a kind of clan united around that project.