“I didn’t always understand my own child,” he said.

“I loved her.

Those aren’t identical things.”

I told him about the afternoon Chloe insisted that I stop talking over her when she asked about a treatment plan.

Her voice had been playful until I answered a question she hadn’t asked.

Then she became suddenly serious and told me she preferred difficult information to comforting assumptions.

Thomas nodded.

“That sounds like her.”