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“Don’t let him get to you,” she said softly. “That’s just your dad.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier,” I said just as softly. Lillianna was still working on her pie.
“He loves you,” my mom said as if that made everything okay.
“But he isn’t proud of me,” I argued.
“Sure, he is,” she said. “He just doesn’t understand your life.”
“For someone who grew up not even two hours from the city, you would think he would be more okay with his daughter living there,” I said.
“But he’s not and you can’t change that,” she said. “All you can do is accept it.”
“Right,” I scoffed. “Like he accepts me.”
“You don’t give him a chance to,” she snapped. “How many times have you been home in the past five years? My god, Piper, we haven’t seen Lillianna since she was three.”
“That’s not true,” I said, but I knew it was. I avoided Bradberry like the plague.
“Piper,” my mom said. She shook her head and leaned closer to me. “Cut us some slack, okay? We just miss you. Both of you.”
“We miss you guys, too,” I said.
“I’m done!” Lillianna announced.
“Put your plate in the sink,” I told her.
“Can I play outside?” she asked.
“In the backyard,” I said.
Lillianna smiled and hurried over to the sink. She stood on her tiptoes to set her plate inside before she ran out the back door. I watched her go with a smile. She was growing up so quickly, I hated to miss even a single second with her.
“Mom,” I said, turning back to face her. “Do you think I made the right choice? When I decided to keep her?”
My mom’s eyes widened slightly at my words. We’d never discussed my change of heart that day in the hospital. I never knew how she felt about it.
“Honey,” she began slowly. “I think what really matters is whether you believe it was the right thing.”
“Most of the time, I do,” I said. “But there are times when I wonder if Audra would have been better for Lili. There are times when I question whether I was meant to be a mother at all.”
“You love your daughter,” she said.
“More than anything.”
“Then, you’re doing alright,” she smiled. “What makes a good mom isn’t living in the right place or providing a traditional family. It’s loving your child and doing everything you can to help them succeed. From what I can see, you’re doing that.”
“Thank you.”
My mom’s words filled me with warmth.
I sat back in my chair and checked the time on the kitchen stove. It was almost nine which meant I had to meet Logan in an hour. Lillianna would be in bed by nine thirty, I hoped. I didn’t want to tell her where I was going.
“That’s the third time you’ve checked the clock,” my mom said.
“I’m meeting someone,” I explained. “After I put Lili to bed.”
“Someone?” Her eyebrows arched upward.
