For a long moment, none of us spoke.
Then Felix kissed the top of her head.
“What you tried to do for Liam was generous,” he said. “But bringing scissors to school and cutting your hair alone was unsafe. You could have hurt yourself.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You must come to us next time.”
“I will.”
She lifted her tear-streaked face. “Are you mad at me?”
Felix exhaled. “A little.”
Her face crumpled.
“And very proud,” he added. “Parents can be upset and proud at the same time. It is one of the confusing parts of being a parent.”
A small laugh slipped through her tears.
I searched the backpack and found the two ponytails beneath her folders. They were wrapped carefully in paper towels and tied at the top. The cut ends were rough, but most of the length remained intact.
I placed them gently on the table.
They looked less like pieces of hair and more like evidence of the size of my daughter’s heart.
