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her hope, her future ripped away from her. She was going to do the same

thing to June, and she was going to have to live that down. “I-I know that.

But I keep thinking about Amelia. And Sky. You can’t lose your job, Beth.”

“Shannon didn’t know where the money came from. I told her it was

from a bonus at work.”

“I don’t want to hurt the kids,” Arabella insisted.

“But they’re not even your kids. You barely know them.” Beth was

having trouble grasping what it was Arabella wanted to do. Or why she’d

want to do it. She didn’t know anything about her history with June. Or the

new history she was trying to make.

“I know that. But I do understand. I know why you did it. I know you

don’t know why I’m going to take the blame for it, but you don’t need to.

You can trust that I’m not going to change my mind and tell June you did it.

Your job is safe. Amelia can go to that school now, I assume?”

“Y-yes. I got enough to pay for the first three months. I’m going to get a

second job and then Shannon will be back at work by then and they’ll have

enough to cover it.”

“That’s good. I’m glad.”

“But, but why?”

Arabella’s eyes were brimming with tears she didn’t know if she could

blink away. She was about to come apart, rip right down the middle and

expose all of her aches and hurts. She really didn’t want that to happen until

after she’d talked to June, packed up her office, and done the whole “I

betrayed everyone” walk of shame.

sucked that it was probably still a few hours in coming. At least she

could pack everything and have her office cleaned out by the time June got

back to talk to her. That would make everything easier.

To keep the tears at bay, Arabella stood. She walked over to Beth,

grasped her hand, and helped her out of the chair. She hugged her hard and