Page 141 of Magical Moonbeam
Darren stepped forward, pulling her with him. “This isridiculous. Come on, Celeste. You don’t have to listen to this. Let’s go.”
She hesitated.
That pause… it was everything.
She looked at me again, eyes wide and uncertain.
And I saw it—the shift. The crack in the story he’d spun. The tiny moment where something in her tilted toward me. Where her gut finally caught up with her heart.
“Darren,” she said softly. “Wait.”
He stopped and turned slowly.
And the look he gave her wasn’t soft, sweet, or patient.
It was hard.
Briefly. Blazingly.
“You said your mom was a little… off,” he said through a tight smile. “But I didn’t realize she was delusional.”
Celeste flinched, and he reached for her again.
But she pulled her hand back.
“Don’t,” she said.
It was quiet. But it cut clean.
And Darren’s smile vanished.
“Excuse me?” he asked.
“I said don’t,” she repeated. “I want to hear her out.”
His jaw ticked. “This is a waste of time.”
“I’ll decide that,” she said.
His posture shifted then, small, almost imperceptible, but I felt it. Something deep inside of him exhaled through gritted teeth as his mask of patience evaporated.
“I need a minute,” he muttered, backing away.
“Darren,” Celeste called, her voice uncertain.
But he didn’t turn around.
He disappeared into the fog.
I watched him go, heart pounding.
And then I turned back to my daughter, my bright, brave daughter, who now looked more shaken than I’d ever seen her.
She looked at me, her voice barely a whisper. “Mom… what’s happening?”
I didn’t have an answer yet, but the truth was coming.
All of it.
