Chapter 10
Nolan requested a meeting with Leo.
I said no.
He asked again two weeks later.
I asked Leo.
His choice.
Leo said yes.
Mia said she was coming too.
Of course.
We met in the garden with me nearby but not at the table.
Nolan looked uncomfortable.
Good.
He faced Leo.
“I was wrong.”
Leo waited.
Kids know when adults stop too early.
Nolan continued.
“I pinned you down because I thought you needed to learn that I was above you.”
Better.
“And I shoved Mia because she got in my way.”
Mia crossed her arms.
“You shoved hard.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“I’m sorry.”
Leo asked:
“Do you still think you’re above us?”
There.
No adult would ask it that cleanly.
Nolan looked toward me.
I gave him nothing.
He answered:
“No.”
Mia immediately said:
“Good.”
Meeting over in her mind.
Leo was not finished.
“Why did you think that?”
Nolan looked ashamed.
“Because I thought being older and being a man made me more important in the family.”
Leo frowned.
“That’s stupid.”
I looked away so I would not laugh.
Nolan almost did too.
May you like
“Yes.”
Progress sometimes arrives as a twelve-year-old calling your worldview stupid.
