“Is this where we ask about college?” she said.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Come in.”

We sat at the folding table and started with their questions.

As I listened, I remembered Gavin coming home from Italy, furious to discover that his expected welcome had been replaced by a whiteboard and borrowed laptops.

He thought I had changed the furniture to punish him.

What I had really changed was the direction of our lives.

I stopped waiting for permission to protect Selena’s future, and I stopped mistaking silence for peace.