And my five-year-old daughter, seeing me, did not drop the dish and run into my arms.

She gripped the edge of the basin tighter, looked at me with wide, frightened eyes, and whispered.

Chapter 8 — Please Hurry

“Daddy — please hurry and help us, because if we don’t finish all of these, Grandma said you’ll be mad, and Mommy and I won’t get any dinner.”

Something fundamental inside my chest broke into pieces I am still, to this day, fitting back together.

My little girl’s first thought on seeing her father after a week away was not joy.