My Daughter Said “we Need A Break” Two Days Before Christmas

sat in my kitchen. Josie was asleep down the hall in the room I’d set up for her. The one with the lavender curtains and the nightlight shaped like a crescent moon. The one that had always been hers, even when nobody used it.

I stared at my phone for a long time.

Then I picked it up.

But I didn’t call Renee.

I called my lawyer back.

Because the note I left continue reading …