Chapter 18 - BROOKE’S APOLOGY
Brooke apologized to Caleb nine months after the dinner.
Not because I arranged it.
Because Caleb asked.
Therapy had changed him.
He wanted to understand why Tyler had treated him badly.
Brooke and Tyler came to Aaron’s office.
I sat nearby.
Brooke looked terrified.
Tyler looked ashamed.
Caleb held Jonah’s baseball glove in his lap.
Brooke began.
“I said things about you that were wrong.”
Caleb looked at her.
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because I was annoyed that plans changed when you were scared.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“No.”
She nodded.
“It isn’t.”
Tyler spoke quietly.
“I popped the balloon because Mom said you needed to stop acting like a baby.”
Brooke closed her eyes.
Caleb looked toward her.
“Did you say that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Brooke started crying.
“Because I was selfish.”
Caleb remained still.
Aaron did not rescue anyone from the discomfort.
After a moment, Caleb asked Tyler.
“Did you know about Jonah?”
Tyler nodded.
“Mom told me not to talk about it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Brooke answered.
“Because I didn’t know how to talk about something sad.”
Caleb looked down.
“Then you made it worse.”
“Yes.”
Brooke whispered.
“I did.”
At the end, she asked.
“Can you forgive me?”
Aaron immediately intervened.
“Caleb does not need to answer that.”
Brooke nodded.
“You’re right.”
Caleb thought anyway.
Then he said.
“Maybe later.”
Brooke smiled sadly.
“That’s fair.”
Outside, Caleb took my hand.
“You okay?”
I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Was that hard?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want ice cream?”
He looked offended.
“I’m twelve.”
“So?”
“I want pizza.”
I laughed.
“Pizza it is.”
On the drive home, he said something that stayed with me.
“I thought being better meant not being scared anymore.”
I glanced toward him.
“What do you think now?”
He shrugged.
“Maybe being better means I get scared and still know what to do.”
I smiled.
“Your therapist would be annoyingly proud of that sentence.”
May you like
Caleb laughed.
It was the easiest sound I had heard from him in more than a year.
