With Lily living halfway across the world, I'd let myself believe the distance had healed something. That I'd finally gotten my family back.
But I'd only been surviving on scraps—the overflow of love Mom and Dad saved for her.
Now the truth was out, and I was the punchline. The humiliation burned hollow in my chest.
I closed the app and locked my phone, watching the screen go dark. Then I flipped open my laptop.
There it was—an email I'd saved for a moment exactly like this. A job offer from my undergraduate professor, one of the few people who'd ever seen my worth.
