Paige reached across the table and took my hand.

It was the first time in twelve years that someone from my family had touched me without asking for something.

PART 11

When the next hearing approached, I learned that the most painful part of a legal dispute wasn’t the paperwork.

It was how thoroughly it could occupy an ordinary day.

I woke to messages from Mara.

I made breakfast with a county map beside the toaster.

Buster learned to rest his head on whichever folder I needed to read.