Chapter 11 - I Had to Explain the Truth to Mia Too
Mia never asked big questions in front of Leo.
She saved them for later.
One night, after I tucked her in, she asked, “Is Javier going to jail?”
I stood at her bedroom door for a second before answering.
“Maybe.”
“Because he grabbed Leo?”
“Yes. And because he did other bad things.”
“Money things?”
I looked at her.
“How do you know?”
She shrugged under her blanket.
“Adults always look like that when it’s money.”
I almost smiled.
Almost.
“Yes. Money things.”
She played with the edge of the blanket.
“Did he want to hurt Leo?”
That question I answered very carefully.
“He wanted Leo to stop talking.”
“Is that why bad people scare kids?”
“Sometimes.”
Mia nodded.
Then asked the question only a seven-year-old could ask so simply:
“Are we safe now?”
I crossed the room and kissed her forehead.
“Yes.”
May you like
And for the first time since the barbecue, I believed it.
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