Leah
Daniel texted while I was making Bella toast.
Dad is doing better this morning. Awake for longer stretches. Lizzie is with him now, so you don’t need to come in unless you want to.
I stood at the counter and read it twice.
Years ago, that message would have gutted me.
Lizzie is with him.
You don’t need to come.
The old Leah would have heard: she belongs there and you don’t.
Maybe a small part of me still heard it.
But it did not knock me flat.
It passed through, sharp at the edges, and then it was gone.
My father was awake. He was improving. Lizzie was there.
Fine.
I had other places to be.
Bella appeared beside me in her school uniform, hair brushed on one side and wild on the other.
“Mommy,” she said, “my toast is naked.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“It has no butter. I
