“I am done being your target,” I said.
Vanessa scoffed, but it sounded weak. “You always make yourself the victim.”
“No. I used to make myself available.”
She went silent.
For the first time in my life, I heard what was beneath her sharpness.
Fear.
Not regret exactly, but fear that the stage had disappeared and no one was applauding anymore.
“She cries every day,” Vanessa said.
“Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Has she asked how Noah and Lily are?”
Silence.
That was the answer.
I ended the call gently, not because Vanessa had earned gentleness, but because I had.
