“Fair?” I repeated quietly. “You told me I wasn’t worth investing in. You gave everything to Sadie and told me to figure it out myself. So I did.”
Neither of them argued.
My mother reached for my arm. I stepped back.
“I’m not angry,” I said, and I realized as I said it that it was true. “I stopped being angry a long time ago.”
My father’s shoulders sank.
“I was wrong,” he said finally. “I said things I shouldn’t have said.”
“No,” I replied. “You said exactly what you believed.”
That hit him harder than accusation would have.
A few minutes later a representative from the fellowship approached to congratulate me, speaking warmly about leadership opportunities and future placements while my parents stood there watching someone else value me openly.
When he left, my mother said softly, “Come home this summer. Please. We can talk.”
“I’m moving to Boston in two weeks,” I said. “I already accepted a job.”
My father blinked. “Already?”
“I’ve been preparing for a long time.”
He looked at me helplessly. “What do you want from us?”
I thought about that.
For years, I would have had an answer. Recognition. Fairness. An apology large enough to match the damage.
Standing there, I realized I did not need any of it.
“I don’t want anything,” I said. “That’s the point.”
Sadie approached us then, awkward and uncertain.
“Congratulations,” she said.
“Thank you.”
She swallowed. “I should have asked how you were doing.”
“We were kids,” I said. “We didn’t create this. We just grew up inside it.”
Her face softened with relief. “Maybe we can try again. As sisters.”
