“I’m sorry.”
I looked toward Thomas’s empty chair.
For the first time, her apology didn’t make me feel obligated to forgive.
“Are you safe?”
I asked.
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Then you need a lawyer of your own.
Not your father’s lawyer.
Not Jared’s.”
“I don’t have any money I can access right now.”
“Ask your mother for help.
And tell the investigators the truth.”
“What about us?”
I closed my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Will you ever forgive me?”
I looked out at the moonlight falling across the porch.
“I don’t know.”
She began crying again.
I continued.
“Forgiveness is not something you can demand from the person you hurt.
It’s something you make room for by changing what you do next.”
We ended the call.
The next morning, Eleanor confirmed the truth of the penthouse loan through records obtained during the financial inquiry.
