Kristina Cuello

Atonement

That the money fell into her lap was beside the point, she insisted, but it was the truth. Sonia cocked her chin down slightly as she said it, acting out what she hoped came across as some sense of total seriousness eyes widening, rearing to take in his reaction from across the table: the jealousy she anticipated would lurk permanently behind his sure-to-be-furrowed brow, the work it would take to disguise her delight, the way the miracle had turned her into a child again, had sent her running around the room with nowhere to go and no one to tell and no real sense of what to do with it, anyway. Until now.