Claire
I picked up the phone four times that week before I finally let it ring through.
Sophia answered on the second ring, and I could hear immediately that she'd been crying, or trying not to, her voice thin and careful in a way that broke something in me even through the anger I was still nursing.
"Mom?"
"Hi, sweetheart." My own voice came out unsteady, and I sat down at my kitchen table, gripping the phone tighter. "I wanted to call. I've been sitting with everything for a week now, and I thought it was time we actually talked instead of just letting the silence keep stretching out."
There was a pause on the other end, and I could picture her exactly, probably curled up on Mia's couch, holding herself together the way she always did, even when she shouldn't have to.
"I've missed
