I stood with my palm open.
Finally, she dropped it into my hand.
“You’re making a mistake.”
“I need you to apologize to Laura, Mom.”
The key
“Apologize? After what she did to me?”
“Think about it. Please.”
She left.
I finished the floor myself, soaking my socks in the process.
That evening, Laura agreed to a short call.
“After what she did?”
“I spoke to Mom,” I said. “I asked her to apologize.”
“Yeah, she called me to scream about how I’d turned you against her.”
I gripped the phone.
“I thought if she heard it from me…”
“Whatever you were trying to do, that isn’t what happened.”
“I spoke to Mom,”
“I’m sorry. I’ll handle it. You don’t have to speak to her.”
After we hung up, I called Mom.
I told her to stop contacting Laura about the separation. If she objected to something I’d decided, she could tell me.
