Chapter 22
Leo met Celeste when he was thirteen.
Vincent said no first.
Immediately.
Leo stared.
“You said when older.”
“You are thirteen.”
“That is older.”
Vincent disliked hearing his own logic used against him.
Maya did not recommend yes.
She did not recommend no either.
She asked Leo why.
“I want hear her answer.”
“To what?”
“Why she kept doing it after I got scared.”
The letter had answered motive.
Not repetition.
That distinction mattered to him.
The meeting happened in Maya’s office.
Forty-five minutes.
Vincent next door.
Rebecca present in the building.
No Brandon.
No family members.
Celeste entered slowly.
Older.
No jewelry.
Leo noticed that detail without knowing she had also arrived at her accountability meeting that way years earlier.
She sat.
“Hello, Leo.”
“Hi.”
Silence.
Then:
“Why more than once?”
Celeste looked down.
“Because the first time did not create enough evidence.”
Leo’s expression changed.
She continued.
“You were upset.”
“You cried?”
“Yes.”
“But Emma stopped me quickly.”
“So?”
“I told myself we needed something clearer.”
Leo stared.
“You needed me more scared.”
“Yes.”
The answer was ugly.
Good.
Not softened.
“Did you know bruises?”
“Yes.”
“Did you care?”
Celeste took too long.
Leo noticed.
“At the time, I cared less than I cared about stopping Emma.”
“That means little.”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Did you love me?”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“I believed I did.”
Leo frowned.
“That weird.”
“Yes.”
“Love people don’t do that.”
Celeste looked at him.
“People can love someone and still choose to hurt them.”
Leo’s face hardened.
“That makes love bad.”
“No.”
She stopped.
Corrected herself.
“It can make the person unsafe.”
That answer was better.
Leo asked:
“Do you want family back?”
Celeste’s hands tightened.
“Yes.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I miss you.”
Leo looked toward Maya.
Then back.
“That doesn’t mean I need you.”
Celeste closed her eyes briefly.
“No.”
“Do you think I should forgive?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Leo noticed that too.
He asked one final question.
“If I never see you again, you still sorry?”
Celeste started crying.
Quietly.
“Yes.”
Leo nodded.
The meeting ended five minutes early.
No hug.
No hand reaching across the table.
Outside, Vincent stood when Leo entered.
“How are you?”
Leo shrugged.
“Okay.”
“That’s all?”
“What else?”
Vincent almost asked whether he wanted to go back.
Whether he wanted another meeting.
Whether he believed her.
He stopped.
On the drive home Leo said:
“I think she sorry.”
Vincent kept his eyes on the road.
“Okay.”
“I don’t trust her.”
“Okay.”
Leo looked at him.
“Different.”
“Yes.”
That was enough.
Apology could be true.
May you like
Trust could still be absent.
Neither fact had to cancel the other.
