It was a way forward she could follow without Derek’s childcare or a spare key he knew how to find.

I visited at her invitation outside my work hours.

By then I had become a supportive person in her life, while the professional decisions remained with the people responsible for them.

I never wanted Mia to believe one familiar dispatcher could personally guarantee the door, the schedule, and every adult around her.

I could keep my own promises: answer when able, tell her mother when I could not, and direct official questions to the right people.

At the small table, the mother asked me to write that she had tried.