“Your resentment gave you a reason to reach for.
But you’re the one who reached, every single time.”
Deborah did not embrace her eldest son, and she did not turn away from him.
“I will forgive you,” she said, “when my heart is ready to — not on the day you need me to, so you can feel lighter.
Until then, serve your time with your head up, pay back what you can, and learn to live a life that doesn’t require lying to the people who love you.” Her calm carried more weight than any scream could have.
Ezra thought about that answer of his mother’s for a long time afterward, because it cut against everything the world tells you forgiveness is supposed to be.