But we can make it clear.”

The schedule included school nights, holidays, medical decisions, and how to communicate when Grace became anxious.

I insisted on one paragraph: neither parent would ask her to carry messages about legal matters or discuss disputed finances with her.

Derek’s attorney accepted the wording.

I wondered whether Derek understood why it mattered.

The first difficult test came at Grace’s school science evening.

Derek had promised to attend, and Grace had spent two weeks preparing a display about the planets.