Chapter 22 - FLORENCE AND VANESSA
They never became mother and daughter.
Stop forcing women into sentimental categories.
They became civil.
Then occasionally warm.
Florence let Vanessa drive her to cataract surgery once because I was out of state.
Vanessa brought soup afterward.
Florence said it needed salt.
Progress.
One Christmas, Vanessa tied an apron around herself to help in the kitchen.
Owen, now sixteen, saw.
Everyone noticed him notice.
He smiled.
“Looks better on you.”
Vanessa laughed.
May you like
No one needed to discuss the past.
Sometimes a joke is safe only after years of truth.
