across town.
Three weeks passed.
Nobody called.
Then Dad’s name appeared on my screen at 7:14 a.m.
I answered.
He skipped hello.
“The mortgage didn’t come out.”
“I know.”
“There’s a late notice.”
“I know.”
His voice tightened. “Why did you stop paying?”
I sat at the kitchen table in my new apartment and looked around the first place that was entirely mine.
Then I repeated the lesson Mom had spent years teaching me.
“Because I’m not your child anymore.”
Dad went completely silent.
Part 2:
Dad called
