Maybe she had panicked over the new car.
Maybe she had made one selfish decision.
But Sophie had given her another chance to reconsider.
She hadn’t.
I ordered a rideshare.
The price made my stomach sink.
Money was already tight, and now I had a dead vehicle on top of everything else.
Emma arrived at school twenty minutes late.That evening, I sat at my kitchen table looking through repair estimates.
Even the cheapest ones made me nervous.
Then my phone buzzed.
Vanessa.
“Car fixed? Sophie needs picking up at 7:20 tomorrow. I have Pilates.”
I stared at the message.
Not:
“Did Emma make it to school?”
Not:
“Is your car okay?”
Not even:
“Sorry about this morning.”
She simply wanted to know whether I would still be available to drive her daughter.
I placed the phone facedown.
For the first time in two years, I didn’t answer.
And I made one decision.
