Chapter 19 - The School She Chose
Maya enrolled at a public magnet school on Chicago's North Side.
Her decision confused almost everyone except Sophie.
“Lakeview has a robotics lab worth millions,” I said.
Maya shrugged. “So?”
“They offered you a full scholarship.”
“They offered me my own money back after stealing it.”
Fair point.
She also started volunteering twice a week at a youth shelter, tutoring math with whatever was available: pencils, bottle caps, chalk, sometimes a stick.
Harrison Capital created new controls that made one-person approvals impossible for charitable transfers. The Claire Harrison Foundation got an independent board, including two former scholarship students and one youth-services director who disagreed with me almost professionally.
I needed that.
At home, the changes were smaller.
I stopped scheduling Sunday breakfast.
We just had it.
Sometimes at eight. Sometimes at ten. Once at noon because Sophie slept late and Maya refused to wake her.
We talked about Claire instead of avoiding her name.
Sophie cried more.
So did I.
Strangely, we laughed more too.
One night, Sophie brought home a math test with a 96 at the top.
She ran through the front door yelling, “Maya!”
Maya came down the stairs.
Sophie held up the paper.
“I only missed one!”
Maya studied it seriously. “Tragic. We may have to start over from kindergarten.”
Sophie tackled her.
Their laughter filled the foyer.
I stood in the doorway listening.
For months, I had believed the sound I wanted back was Sophie's old laugh.
I was wrong.
Children do not return to who they were before grief.
Neither do adults.
We become someone else and hope love can still recognize us.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Maya's lawyer.
The criminal case had uncovered one final sealed file from Nolan's office.
A file labeled CLAIRE HARRISON - INCIDENT.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
For two years, I had believed Claire's death was a random accident.
For the first time, I wondered if I had been wrong.
