I signed my name, not “Love, your daughter.” I didn’t know whether those words belonged at the bottom yet.

When Colleen mailed it, I stood beside the mailbox and watched the red flag click down.

It wasn’t forgiveness.

It was a boundary.

For the first time I understood how much strength boundaries could take.

PART 17

Spring brought a school science fair, which felt like the most ordinary and wonderful deadline in the world.

I decided to research the ways road surfaces change temperature during freezing rain.