I Turned My Phone Face Down While My Whole Family Fell Apart

and cried ugly. No dignity. No gentle single tear. My whole face wrecked.

Jean held my shoulder.

Michael looked out the window and gave me the grace of not speaking.

After a while I said, “I kept paying them because I thought if I stopped, it would mean I was alone.”

Jean squeezed once. Hard.

“You were alone with them too.”

Thirty Days Became Seven

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