Chapter 26 - KEELY’S DAUGHTER
Keely became a mother at thirty-two.
A daughter.
Emma.
At five, Emma refused dinner.
“I’m not hungry.”
Keely froze.
I saw it.
Tiny pause.
Then:
“Okay. Kitchen closes after bath. If you’re hungry before then, tell me.”
Emma nodded.
Ten minutes later:
“Hungry.”
Keely gave her yogurt and toast.
No lecture.
Later Keely called me.
“I almost said, ‘Then go hungry.’”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“That’s the work.”
“I heard Grandma.”
“I know.”
“Do you ever hear her?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you do?”
“Choose my own sentence.”
Silence.
Then Keely laughed.
May you like
“That’s annoyingly good.”
“I’m older. It happens.”
