Dad’s eyes narrowed.

“You can win an argument in court and still lose everything that matters.”

I knew the threat beneath the sentence.

He had used it since I was sixteen, whenever I wanted a life outside the boundaries he drew for me.

“You’ve already taught me that,” I said.

Outside, sunlight caught the courthouse steps.

I sat on a low wall to let my knee settle and called the lawyer whose name had been sitting unanswered in my contacts for months.

“Ms.