He Accused Me Of Stealing But I Heard The Truth Chapter 49
I looked at the line of trays in the cafeteria.
“Then change the rules.”
Later, the program added a new policy: children living in transitional housing could receive three meals a day, regardless of whether their parent worked in the cafeteria.
Maria handed the very first new meal card to Maisie.
“Now you don’t have to wait for your mom to get off work.”
Maisie tucked it away carefully, then asked, “Can we give one to Derek?”
Maria laughed.
“If he wants food, he can pay for it himself.”
Derek did not participate in the settlement negotiations.
After the board removed him, he sold more of his personal shares and continued to fund the two aid programs he’d started. He no longer used the Weston Foundation name and never appeared in any promotional photos.
In our co-parenting app, he still sent only one visitation request a week.
That night, a message came through.
“Next week is the school’s family open house. If Maisie is okay with it, I’d like to attend. I’ll sit in the back, without any assistants, and I won’t take photos.”
I handed the phone to Maisie.
She read it slowly.
“Can I let him come?”
“It’s your open house.”
“Then he can come,” she said. “But he can’t answer the teacher’s questions for me.”
I sent her words back to him, exactly as she’d said them.
Derek replied with a single word.
*Okay.*
Before bed, Maisie suddenly asked, “If I hug him, does that mean I think what he did before was okay?”
I pulled the blanket up around her shoulders.
“No.”
“Liking someone, or missing them, or wanting to hug them doesn’t mean you have to forget the wrong things they did.”
“So I get to decide when I hug him?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“I need to think about it a little longer.”