“She told me your grades and the books you liked.

She knew every time you were unhappy, even when she couldn’t figure out how to talk to you.”

“She could have just told me the truth.”

“Yes,” he said, making no attempt to defend her.

“She could have.”

It was the first answer anyone had given me that didn’t ask me to give up my anger in order to accept my mother’s love.

Before Mrs.