A young woman near the back covered her mouth.
Theo’s sister.
I’d barely noticed her.
Theo looked at me.
“I didn’t want to upset you.”
That broke me.
Because he’d been sitting ten feet away, terrified of hurting us, while I’d been wondering whether to have him removed.
I stood.
Daniel looked at me.
I walked toward Theo.
He froze.
For one horrible second, I think he thought I was coming to take him away from the microphone.
Instead, I hugged him.
He was taller than me now.
When had that happened?
I’d known this boy since he had missing teeth.
Now he folded into me and started sobbing.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“No.”
“I should’ve told you.”
“No.”
“I didn’t mean to make today worse.”
“You didn’t.”
I held the back of his head.
“Finish it.”
He pulled away.
“Are you sure?”
“Finish what Jack asked you to say.”
