I knew that too.
When it was almost finished, it touched my face.
“When you use this, promise me you won’t spend the night hidden in a corner.
“I don’t even dance.
“Then learn.
I tried to laugh.
Mom smiled.
I didn’t do this to make you disappear. Promise me.
I promised him.
Eight days later, he died.
After the funeral, our house became painfully silent.
Dad barely spoke.
Mom’s favorite blue cup stayed on a kitchen shelf, and she played it every morning because, somehow, knowing that she was still there made the house feel less empty.
Then Dad married Shirley.
Shirley had been Mom’s best friend.
People acted like that should make things easier.
It wasn’t.
Within a few days, Mom’s blue cup disappeared.
“I was shacked,” Shirley said.
“I wasn’t.
Daddy sighed.
It was just a cup, Delilah.
It was Mom’s cup.
Then Mom’s photograph disappeared from the hallway.
Another photo was turned to the wall.
Every time I complained, Shirley smiled and called me too sensitive.
One afternoon she said, “You look exactly like your mother when you’re angry. That must be hard for your father.
