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When June set down her fork gently, Arabella nearly leaped out of her
chair.
Tears pricked at the back of Arabella’s eyes, but she kept her eyes wide
open and didn’t blink, hoping the dryness of her eyes would clear them
away all on their own. The pain from earlier was back, radiating from her
chest up into her throat and down into her stomach. She felt heavy, and the
last thing she wanted to do was eat anything, so she set her fork down too.
Their eyes locked, and June tilted her head a little, studying Arabella. “I
don’t know if you know this, but there isn’t some force out there in the
universe that wants to punish you. I think you believe you have all this stuff
to atone for and the things happening now are a direct result of things
you’ve done in the past.”
“Some people might argue that’s the case,” Arabella choked out. She
didn’t expect June to lead with something so very perceptive, but why not?
This was June, and her emotional intelligence, let alone her regular
intelligence, was off the charts.
“I don’t think it is. I know a lot of things are interconnected, and actions
have ripples and consequences, but as for some universal, karmic, cosmic
punishment? I’m not down with that. I’m not a big believer in you having to
beat yourself up about things that happened a long time ago.”
“That’s not why I was going to not tell you about Beth.”
“Then why?”
“I… Because I didn’t want Beth to lose her job. Amelia should have the
opportunity to go to a good school. A school that’s just right for her.”
“You were worried she was getting bullied?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure what I thought. I was worried, yes, that she
would hate her entire school experience. That she wouldn’t fit in, and she’d
always know that. That she’d get picked on and that she’d be unhappy. Or
that she’d be so unhappy the only way to bring herself any pleasure would
be to turn the tables and pick on other kids. I don’t know. That doesn’t even
