I kept telling myself it was temporary.
Jane grew up in the middle of all that. She never made things harder. That almost made it worse.
She was the kind of kid who noticed everything and asked for nothing.
At 12, she was setting aside half her birthday money just in case.
At 16, she got a part-time job at the campus bookstore near the community college so she could start saving before she even applied anywhere.
I touched her shoulder. “Honey. Go to bed.”
“Did you eat?”
She gave me that look. “Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
She smiled. “That isn’t true.”
I wanted so badly to give her a life where she did not have to notice if I had eaten dinner or not.
They always know.
“I got in,” she said, breathless.
“Mom. I got in.”
I stood up so fast I knocked my chair back.
She shoved the screen in my face. “Read it.”
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