“What’s wrong is that I told her to cancel her enrollment at the university without telling her parents”

“Esti, I can’t ask Mommy for more money. But everyone’s going! Can I borrow $500 from you? I’ll pay you back, I promise”

“What’s wrong? Wait, did you already make plans with someone else?” She took a breath as unexpected hurt rose inside. “It’s okay, you can tell me”

"Yes, I got divorced recently. So what? Lots of people do, and their daughters don’t end up in the hospital from it”

Shani took one slice and bit into it — the tiniest of bites. She chewed for what seemed like an entire minute

Zeezee didn’t know what she would do when she got there, but she needed to go, to prove to herself that she wasn’t a quitter

“I see it was a mistake to send Shani away from home. I didn’t want her to go, in her fragile state, but I thought I could trust the seminary to take care of her”

“Listen,” she’d said. “When you’re watching my kids, I need to know that you’re giving them your full attention"