“I usually fix things myself.”
“Well, then fix this.”
There it was.
Not please.
Not could you help?
Just an expectation.
The same expectation that had followed me for years.
If something broke, I fixed it.
If someone needed money, I provided it.
If someone needed a ride, I drove.
If Mom needed something, I appeared.
And apparently, if she kicked my children out into thirty-degree weather, I was still supposed to come running when her furnace stopped.
I looked at the clock.
9:17.
Then I said:
“I’m not
