I stared at her for a moment as I thought about how she had made me feel. My emotions swirled—anger, sadness, and hope all fighting each other. She had hurt me so deeply because I thought she would have understood. I had expected her to be in my corner, but she hadn’t been. It had felt like losing my mother all over again because she had been playing that part for a long time, and it wouldn’t be easy to forget that either.
But I could see the effort she had made. I could see that she was trying. She really tried. She did all of this, the food and made a mess of herself in the process, and now sat there, waiting for my response. I exhaled, my shoulders relaxing slightly.
"Madeline," I began, my voice steady but firm. "I won’t say I’m not hurt by what you did because I am. It did hurt me.
