There was room for the parts each of us had been afraid to see.

PART 20

There was one conversation I’d been avoiding even after Vanessa apologized: the one with my mother.

Dad had tried to take responsibility, and Vanessa had begun to acknowledge the damage she caused, but Mom still treated every difficult conversation as something that should end the moment she felt uncomfortable.

I didn’t want our next family gathering to become a contest over who could perform the nicest version of forgiveness.

So I invited her to the greenhouse on a quiet Monday, when the customers had gone and the only noise came from an oscillating fan beside the seedlings.