“What happened?” I looked at my mother, and she gave him a warm and radiant smile, and I answered through my tears.

“Lucile came back.”

Chapter 16 — A Tub Full of Warm Water

In the months that followed, my mother came back to me in pieces, each one a small treasure.

She remembered that I hated cilantro.

She remembered the exact lullaby she used to sing when I ran a fever.

She remembered saving spare change in an old coffee can, every autumn, to buy me new school shoes.

And I came face to face with a truth about myself that I could not turn to the wall.