Marybeth
I chose the school before I could overthink it. That was the only way to do it. Besides, in a small town there usually isn’t a huge choice. If I stopped … if I let myself sit with the weight of what this meant … I might delay.
I might hesitate. I might convince myself that keeping Eli close, just a little longer, was safer. But safe wasn’t the same as right. And I had already decided. The building was modest. Clean. Structured. Quiet in a way that suggested order rather than absence.
Children’s voices carried faintly from somewhere deeper inside, bright and careless. Eli stood beside me, his hand slipping into mine without thinking.
“You sure about this?” he asked. I looked down at him. He wasn’t afraid. Just … aware.
“I am,” I said. That was only half true. But it was eno
