“He was your son. Of course you believed him.”
“He was my son,” I agreed. “But you were family too.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“So did I.”
I reached across the table.
“I can’t bring Daniel back. And I can’t pretend what he did was acceptable. I don’t even know how I’m supposed to feel about him right now.”
“You don’t have to decide that today,” Sophie said.
We talked for another hour.
She told me about her new apartment and the job she’d started after leaving Daniel. I told her about my garden and how much our lives had changed.
Eventually, Sophie stood to leave.
I walked her to the front door.
Two days earlier, she’d stood on that same porch, frightened that I might turn her away.
Now she hesitated at the threshold.
“Linda, I don’t expect things to go back to how they were.”
