make sense. I just kept seeing Shannon’s face. She looked so tired. That
kind of tired that people get when their loved ones aren’t doing well. I know
exactly what that kind of tired feels like. It goes straight down into your
bones, and it becomes you. I only spent an hour or so with Sky, but she’s
the sweetest. I imagine her sister isn’t much different. I didn’t know about
the stuff with the teacher. I just, I guess I wanted to spare someone else
because I couldn’t go back and undo the things I did and spare those kids. I
wanted Amelia to have a good school experience, so she didn’t have to go
somewhere every single day hating and dreading it.”
“Is that what it was like for you? You hated it? Dreaded it?”
Arabella bit her lip and finally nodded. “I guess I did. Being fake all the
time is a pretty hard thing to maintain.”
“I think some people don’t have a very hard time of it. I think some
people actually like it.”
“That was never me.”
June reached for the bowl of salad and put a few more slices of tomato
and cucumber onto her plate. “Do you think you need to punish yourself?”
How was Arabella supposed to answer that? She wasn’t even sure how to
honestly answer it for herself. “I don’t know. It wasn’t really about that.”
“So, you were just going to give up your job, your health and dental
benefits, and your salary to take the fall for someone else because you knew
they needed their job every bit as much as you did?”
From anyone else that would sound totally condescending, but not from
June. She asked with a genuine curiosity that invited deeper introspection
and meaningful conversation. She wasn’t sneering
or pointing fingers or
laughing about how silly that sounded. She wasn’t sitting there saying she
didn’t believe Arabella had it in her to do something good like that just
because she cared. Anyone else probably would, but not June. Even if they
weren’t dating. Even if they didn’t work together. Even if they weren’t