He did.
Carol lowered her voice like that somehow made the question kinder. “Do you want to be a girl? Is that it?”
Eleven Days Earlier
Eleven days before this, Josh and I had spent two hours in an office on Warren Street. Carol didn’t know about that. Neither did Theo, not really. He’s six, and there was a version of it we were still working out how to explain.
Josh had been standing in the kitchen doorway the whole time. He put his coffee down on the counter, walked into the living room, took Bea from his mother’s hand, and gave her back to Theo without saying a single word to Carol.
Then he pulled out the chair across from the couch, sat down, and waited until she looked at him.
“Mom. Before you say one more word, I need you to sit down.”
Carol blinked. “I’m already sitting.”
“Then stay there.”
Something in his voice changed the entire room. Theo pulled Bea against his chest and went back to arranging little plastic animals along the carpet. Maya was halfway down the stairs now, having heard enough to know something was happening.
“He’s Autistic”
Carol looked from Josh to me. “What is this?”
