She had been waiting in her car in the parking lot with a thermos, in case I wanted to leave early.
Raul had gone out and told her.
She came straight across the floor, put both arms around me, and held on.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered into my hair. "Your father made me promise. About the insurance. About all of it. He said you had enough to carry."
"I know."
"I took out a loan for the bills, Teagan. I didn't want you to ever see."
"I know, Aunt Kaitlyn."
"I should have told you."
"He told me one thing," I said, and I laughed a little, wetly. "He told me to show up."
"So did you."
On Monday evening at seven o'clock, six hundred people filled the Stonebridge High auditorium for a special meeting of the school board.
Every seat was taken.
People stood along the walls.
There were parents I had never seen and teachers in their weekend clothes.
