Chapter 8
I did not go to Mom’s court hearing.
Dad said I could have support explaining what happened afterward. Ms. Lewis helped me decide I would rather be at school.
I spent that morning checking the clock.
At lunch, I barely ate.
My teacher knew something important was happening and asked if I wanted to visit the counselor.
I said yes.
Ms. Lewis let me sit quietly until Dad called.
Mom would remain in the community under strict conditions. She had accepted responsibility for the false financial paperwork. She had probation, community service, counseling requirements, and repayment obligations.
She could not access my education account.
The rules were written down.
I listened.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s upset. Aunt Paula is with her.”
“Did she say it was my fault?”
“No. She said it was hers.”
I cried then.
I had been waiting for that answer more than I realized.
Darius’s case ended later.
He received a prison sentence after admitting to a scheme that took money from several people. The court ordered restitution. Property and funds recovered through the case would help repay those harmed.
Dad explained that not every dollar would come back immediately.
People still had to work through the damage.
That was hard to understand because stories usually ended when the bad person went away.
Our bills and feelings didn’t end at the courthouse door.
Maya finished her semester.
Dad drove me to her campus for a weekend visit. She showed me the nursing lab, her favorite study corner, and the little room she shared with a girl named Tessa.
I stood beside her bed and imagined her packing it because Mom said Dad hadn’t paid.
Maya noticed.
“What are you thinking?”
“That you almost weren’t here.”
She sat beside me.
“I am here.”
“I know.”
“And I’m staying.”
She had earned another scholarship for the next year.
Dad celebrated so loudly in the hallway that Tessa laughed.
We took Maya out to dinner. She ordered something she couldn’t get in the dining hall and told us about a patient simulation that made everyone panic before the instructor explained what to do.
“Were you good?”
“I made mistakes.”
“Then what?”
“I learned.”
That answer stayed with me.
Mom was making repairs too, but they were different.
She got a job managing appointments at a dental office. She sold jewelry and other things she didn’t need. The repayment plan came from her income, not another promise from Darius.
Dad showed me only the broad progress. I didn’t need to watch every dollar anymore.
Mom sent Maya a written apology.
Maya read it privately and later told me it named what happened without asking her to hide it.
“She says she understands if I don’t want a close relationship.”
“Do you?”
“I want time.”
I nodded.
I understood time now.
In spring, Dad told me he and Mom were divorcing.
He sat beside me before saying it.
“We tried working through what happened,” he said. “I don’t believe we can rebuild our marriage in the way we both need.”
I stared at the carpet.
“Because of the money?”
“Because of the lies and the decisions around it. This is between us.”
“Did the phone call make it happen?”
“Noah, the phone call revealed something already happening.”
I looked up.
“So if I hadn’t asked—”
“The problem would still have been there.”
He waited.
I finally nodded.
Mom told me the same thing during our next visit.
“I made choices before you walked into the kitchen,” she said. “You did not break our marriage by telling the truth.”
I needed both of them to say it.
That night, I opened the sneaker picture for the first time in months.
They still looked beautiful.
They also reminded me of the day everything changed.
I turned off my phone.
Dad found me at the kitchen table.
“Still want them?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
“Is the money still mine?”
“Your savings are yours. The promise I made is still something we can discuss. You don’t have to buy anything because you waited.”
I leaned back in the chair.
May you like
I had thought losing the shoes was part of becoming less selfish.
Now I wondered whether I was allowed to want something again.
