Chapter 27
Two years after the barbecue, Lily was nine.
She had changed.
Not just taller.
Stronger.
She wore her hair long again.
For months after Diane pulled it, she had wanted it cut above her shoulders.
Nobody argued.
Then one day she asked me to braid it.
I almost cried while doing it.
“Too tight?” I asked.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Mom.”
“What?”
“You ask every thirty seconds.”
I laughed.
“Sorry.”
She looked at me through the mirror.
“Grandma made me scared of people touching my hair.”
My hands stopped.
Then she smiled.
“But not you.”
I finished the braid.
That felt like healing.
Jason and I were still in counseling, though less frequently.
Not because we were struggling.
Because we liked having a place to check ourselves before small problems became large ones.
Dr. Chen called it preventive maintenance.
Jason called it cheaper than divorce.
I called him an idiot.
We were good.
Not the old good.
Better.
Honest.
Sometimes uncomfortable.
Real.
Robert started dating.
When he told us, he looked terrified.
“Her name is Susan.”
Lily immediately asked, “Is she nice?”
“Yes.”
“Does she pull hair?”
Everyone froze.
Then Lily burst out laughing.
Robert almost fell out of his chair.
“I’m joking!”
I stared at her.
“That was dark.”
Maya, naturally, was proud.
May you like
“My influence.”
Susan turned out to be kind
