LILY
I stayed where I was even after she finished speaking, like moving would somehow make her words less real.
Until that moment, I had always believed I understood my mother. I thought she was simple in the way she loved, steady in the way she lived, and predictable in the way she made decisions. But now, sitting across from her and hearing her speak like she had lived an entirely different life beneath the one she showed me, I didn’t know what to hold onto anymore.
She let out a quiet breath, her fingers folding neatly over each other as she leaned back slightly on the couch.
“I was very young when I had you,” she said softly, her gaze fixed somewhere between me and the floor. “Too young to understand how demanding your father’s world would become.”
I frowned slightly, unsure where
