Sydney

I swear if Maeve hadn’t made my phone buzz at that moment, Mom would have seen me cry and realized how much that conversation had meant to me.

Instead, I just nodded at her and grabbed my phone, mumbling something about needing to catch up on a chemistry project. Then I dashed up the stairs.

And before I could get dressed and walk back down, it was just me in the house.

Don’t get me wrong—moving in with Mom and Brooklyn after living with Dad for sixteen years had been exciting.

And whenever Mom was home, she never made me feel small the way people did at school.

She...