I nearly cried after she left.

It was such an ordinary promise, and I’d almost forgotten that ordinary honesty existed.

I began putting twenty dollars from each paycheck into a savings account only I managed.

Later it became fifty.

Then a hundred.

Each deposit felt like a vote for the person I was becoming.

The girls were learning to pull themselves up by the couch.

Piper would stand carefully, testing one foot before moving the other.