Chapter 5 - Caleb Had to Admit What He Did to June
Apologizing did not feel large enough.
Caleb tried anyway.
He approached June after Elara had been admitted for overnight observation.
June stood near the vending machines with one arm wrapped around her bruised abdomen.
“I’m sorry.”
June looked at him.
No response.
“I saw my daughter hurt. Meredith said—”
June cut him off.
“You kicked me.”
Caleb stopped.
“I know.”
“You didn’t ask me one question.”
“I know.”
“I was holding Elara because I had just pulled her away from the person who burned her.”
His face tightened.
“I know that now.”
June’s voice shook.
“You trusted the person standing calmly over the person bleeding on the floor.”
There was nothing he could say to make that sentence smaller.
“I was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“I thought—”
“No.”
June’s expression hardened.
“You reacted.”
Caleb lowered his eyes.
She was right.
He had not assessed.
Had not protected everyone and then investigated.
He had chosen a villain in less than a second.
Then used force.
The fact that he loved Elara did not transform the kick into something noble.
Later, when police took his statement, Caleb gave the entire sequence truthfully.
He did not claim June attacked him.
He did not call the kick necessary.
He said:
“I believed a false accusation and struck her.”
That admission did not repair June’s bruises.
May you like
But it was the beginning of refusing to build another lie on top of Meredith’s.
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