It was an odd and uncomfortable reality, one I’d wanted since Dr. Bryant mentioned it was even a possibility. Now it was actually on the table, and I had only two options:

Give it all back.

Or resign myself to move forward and live with what I’d done.

The answer seemed simple enough.

Who had time for a conscience when your whole future was on the line?

I walked into the house around 6:00 p.m. I knew Keith would be home soon, so I walked quickly with the duffel into the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and turned on the light.

There weren’t many hiding places in the house. I’d found that out when we first moved in and I tried to hide a watch that I’d gotten Keith for his birthday. I’d bought it an entire month in advance and stashed it at the back of the coat closet. Keith had walked into the bedroom one night, holding it his hands.

“What’s this doing in the closet?” he’d asked, a frown on his face.

“Uh, happy early birthday?”

I opened the closet door and got down on my hands and knees. The very bottom of the closet wasn’t actually a shelf; it was just the floor of the bathroom. It was covered in bottles of nail polish remover and other toiletries. I began to pull the items out, lining them up on the floor in front of the vanity. When at least half the space was cleared, I pushed the duffel bag inside before placing each of the bottles back, one by one.

I heard a noise and the sound of the front door opening. I stood back up as I heard Keith’s voice.

“Hey, you here?”

“Yep! One second!” I said.

I took a final look around and then opened the door, walking out into the living room. Keith was sitting on the couch, the remote control on his lap, and he smiled as I walked into the room. He already had a bowl of cereal in his hands, and he shrugged.

“Sorry, I was starving,” he said.

I smiled. “I’m not really hungry.”

I sat down on the couch beside him and watched as he shoveled the cereal in his mouth, his eyes glued to the screen. He was even eating his cereal in a different way since he’d been contacted by the wonderful and famous Ryan Hooks. I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as I thought about how I’d dashed out earlier that afternoon and told him I would spend a couple hours driving DAC when, in reality, I’d gone to the truck stop. He hadn’t even batted an eye.

There was a commercial on, and I watched as a family stood in the middle of a kitchen, drinking orange juice.