They both did. Hesitant and hopeful.
“I would burn the entire education board to the ground before I let that man own us. Do you really think I’d have kept your father away from you on purpose? HE left us.
I didn’t leave him. He chose this, not me.”
Jude blinked slowly. Something flickered behind his eyes; a flicker of the boy who used to curl beside me with scraped knees and a racing heart.
“Mom,” he whispered. “Then what do we do?”
“We’ll agree to his terms, boys. And then we’ll expose him when the pretense matters the most.”
The morning of the banquet, I picked up an extra shift at the diner.
I needed to keep moving. If I sat too long, I’d spiral. The boys were sitting in the corner booth, homework spread out between them; Rowan with his earbuds in, Jude scribbling across his notebook like he was racing someone.
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