Chapter 8 - JOSEPHINE’S GUILT
Josephine stopped sleeping.
Not entirely.
Enough that school noticed.
Her English teacher found her asleep during independent reading.
The counselor called Elias.
He came immediately.
Josephine sat in the counseling office convinced she was in trouble.
Elias sat beside her.
“You’re not.”
“I lied to you for six weeks.”
“You were scared.”
“I should’ve told you.”
“You were fifteen.”
“I knew it was wrong.”
“Yes.”
She looked at him.
That answer surprised her.
Elias continued.
“You knew keeping the secret felt wrong. But adults you trusted told you speaking would destroy your family. Those are two different things.”
Josephine started crying.
“Are you going to lose your job?”
“Maybe.”
That honesty hurt.
But Elias refused to promise outcomes he did not control.
“Are we losing the house?”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. The mortgage is manageable even if I change jobs.”
“Mom said—”
“I know what Mom said.”
Josephine stared down.
“Are you divorcing her?”
Elias took longer.
“Probably.”
She cried harder.
“I ruined everything.”
“No.”
He turned toward her.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“You did not cause an affair. You did not create fake invoices. You did not make your mother lie. You did not make Grant threaten you. Telling me what happened didn’t break the family.”
“What did?”
“Adults making choices and then asking a kid to carry them.”
Josephine leaned into him.
May you like
Elias wrapped one arm around her.
For the first time in weeks, she slept eight straight hours that night.
