"Do you know him?" Joseph asked when he noticed our reactions.
I was still stunned by the revelation, but Sarah answered, "Yes. He's a friend—and a former member of our party."
She looked disheartened as she finished her sentence. She must have remembered the last time we heard from him: a letter saying he would leave on his own and that we shouldn't follow him.
I had been a little upset with the way he handled it back then. But now, I couldn't bring myself to feel angry about it. In the end, I believed I had benefited the most from how things turned out. Sarah, however, was different.
She still saw Leo as a close friend. She still felt hurt remembering how he left without a word—only a letter—as if all those years of friendship meant nothing.
I could tell those feelings were still simmering inside her. It was too soon for her to simply forget.
