Page 165

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