How to cry quietly in the shower so she wouldn’t hear me.
Emma grew up watching all of it.
She was never the kind of child who demanded expensive things.
She noticed everything.
She noticed when I skipped meals.
She noticed when I came home exhausted.
She noticed every overdue bill hidden beneath stacks of papers.
Most importantly, she noticed the difference between people who stayed and people who ran away.
By the time she reached her senior year, I thought our hardest years were finally behind us.
Emma was brilliant.
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