Chapter 13 - THE ROOM SOPHIE COULDN’T SLEEP IN
Going home was harder than Alejandro expected.
Sophie stood outside her old bedroom and refused to enter.
Alejandro didn’t force her.
“You can sleep anywhere you want.”
“The couch?”
“Yep.”
“Your room?”
“Yep.”
“Grandma’s?”
Elena laughed.
“Absolutely.”
For three weeks, Sophie slept in the guest room.
Then she asked Alejandro to change her bedroom.
Not just paint it.
Everything.
“I don’t want it to look like before.”
So they rebuilt it together.
Yellow walls.
White shelves.
A new bed.
No old pillow.
No old medicine drawer.
Sophie chose glow-in-the-dark stars for the ceiling.
Alejandro thought they looked ridiculous.
He installed all 186 of them anyway.
One Saturday, Sophie stood in the doorway.
“Can we move the bed?”
“Again?”
“Yes.”
“We moved it yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Where?”
She pointed.
“Under the window.”
Alejandro sighed dramatically.
“I run eighty trucks across five states.”
Sophie crossed her arms.
“And?”
“And apparently my hardest job is moving this bed.”
She smiled.
“Correct.”
He moved it.
That night, Sophie slept in her room for the first time.
At 2:14 a.m., Alejandro heard footsteps.
He opened his bedroom door.
Sophie stood there holding her pink blanket.
“Nightmare?”
She nodded.
He lifted the covers.
She climbed in.
Neither spoke.
After several minutes, Sophie whispered,
“Do you think Valerie thinks about us?”
Alejandro stared at the ceiling.
“Maybe.”
“I don’t want her to.”
“We can’t control what other people think.”
“Can she come back?”
“Not for a very long time.”
“And when she does?”
“You’ll be grown.”
Sophie considered that.
“How grown?”
“Very.”
“Like thirty?”
Alejandro smiled.
“Ancient.”
Sophie giggled.
Then became serious again.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Why didn’t Mommy tell you about Thomas Blake?”
Alejandro thought carefully.
“Maybe she thought she was protecting me.”
“Was she?”
“No.”
“Because you didn’t know?”
“Exactly.”
Sophie was quiet.
Then she said,
“I’m glad I told you.”
Alejandro turned toward her.
“So am I.”
“I almost didn’t.”
His chest tightened.
“Why did you?”
Sophie touched the edge of her blanket.
“Grandma said secrets that make you scared are usually secrets you should tell.”
Alejandro smiled.
“Grandma’s smart.”
“Sometimes.”
From the hallway came Elena’s voice.
“I heard that.”
Sophie burst out laughing.
Alejandro laughed too.
It was 2:14 in the morning.
None of them cared.
For months, their home had been filled with whispers.
Now it was filled with laughter.
And Alejandro realized something.
May you like
Safety wasn’t silence.
Safety was knowing you could make noise and no one would punish you for it.
