My principal paused.
“Paul asked first,” she said. “Miranda agreed.”
Miranda looked smaller indoors than she had at the water park. She sat with her handbag in her lap and didn’t make eye contact with me.
Paul turned his head and looked at her.
Paul did.
My principal invited us all to sit.
Miranda started with, “I may have overreacted.”
Paul turned his head and looked at her.
She stopped.
Then she tried again.
“I saw a teacher from school in a swimsuit, and I thought it was inappropriate.”
“What I said was wrong,” she said quietly. “And cruel.”
My principal folded her hands on the desk.
“Why did you say it?”
Miranda swallowed.
“I saw a teacher from school in a swimsuit, and I thought it was inappropriate. Then people looked at me, and I kept going because I didn’t want to feel foolish.”
I thought about Daisy crying beside the pool.
Paul spoke then.
“I’m here because our son was upset all weekend,” he said. “He said he did not want Ms. Harper to think our family was mean.”
That, more than anything, seemed to hit Miranda.
I thought about Daisy crying beside the pool.
About her whispering that it was her fault.
Then I said the only thing that felt useful.
When she saw them at the door, she went very still.
“The person who most needs your apology is not me,” I said. “It is Daisy.”
Later that week, Paul emailed me first. He asked whether bringing Evan and dropping something off for Daisy would be welcome. I said yes.
Daisy was sitting at the kitchen table doing a puzzle when they arrived.
When she saw them at the door, she went very still.
