Derek Voss, once his probation ended, asked Everett for a second chance. At a different company entirely. Everett didn't hire him back. But he wrote him an honest reference letter. The kind that mentioned both the mistake and the courage it took to fix it.
Silas Cobb became something closer to a family friend. He still calls every few months. Mostly just to ask about the boys.
Naomi went back to bookkeeping eventually. This time for a small nonprofit downtown. She said it felt good to work with numbers that told the truth.
The nonprofit ran a food pantry on the north side of Briar Hollow. Naomi handled their books three days a week, carefully, the way she once handled Everett's. Her supervisor, an older woman named Ruth, noticed her attention to detail within the first month. "You catch things other people miss," Ruth told her once. "I've had practice," Naomi said, and left it at that. She never explained further, and Ruth never asked.
