“Isn’t that the janitor?”
“Where’s her dad?”
“Why didn’t she pick Nolan?”
“Poor guy.”
I slowly sat back down.
My face burned.
A woman beside me leaned closer.
“Everything okay?”
I forced a smile.
“Yeah.”
My voice barely worked.
“Sophie always has surprises.”
The woman gave me the kind of sympathetic smile people use when they don’t know what else to do.
Then she looked away.
I STARTED QUESTIONING EVERYTHING
Sophie and Arthur began walking.
Every step felt like something being taken from me.
I replayed eighteen years in my head.
Breakfasts.
Homework.
Doctor visits.
School projects.
Nightmares.
Christmas mornings.
Science fairs.
The time Sophie called from school crying and I left work without even changing my boots.
Had I failed her somehow?
Had I embarrassed her?
Had she secretly resented me?
What had Arthur done that I hadn’t?
I hated myself for thinking that.
