It was a costume tailored for a role called Gracious Mother Extends Olive Branch.

A week earlier, I’d have felt my stomach drop with desperate, pathetic hope.

That reflex was gone.

The Polaroid had burned it out of my nervous system.

Once you’ve seen the magic show from the wings, you can’t unsee the tape marks on the stage floor.

“I brought you something,” she cooed, her voice as warm as the shop floor.