Jessica stared at the leash like it might bite her.
“I can’t,” she whispered. “I have work. I have—”
“You have fear,” I said gently. “Bring it. We’ll walk with that too.”
Jessica’s jaw trembled.
And for the first time since Sarah died, I saw my daughter not as the woman who was trying to relocate me like furniture…
…but as a child who’d lost her mother and didn’t know what to do with all that love.
She didn’t take the leash.
But she didn’t tell me to put it away either.
That afternoon, the young deputy came back.
Not in the cruiser this time.
He parked down the street and walked up my driveway like he was trying not to scare a stray animal.
He looked tired.
Like he hadn’t slept since our morning talk.
Jessica opened the door before I could get there.
Her eyes narrowed when she saw him.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
The deputy lifted his hands, palms out.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Deputy Hale. I spoke with your father this morning.”
Jessica’s voice sharpened.
“Are you here to—”
He shook his head quickly.
“No. No, ma’am. I’m… I’m here because things escalated online.”
Jessica’s face went cold.
“So you saw the video.”
He nodded.
“Half the town did,” he said quietly. “There’s… a lot of noise.”
I stepped into the doorway behind Jessica.
Hale looked at me with something like apology in his eyes.
“Sir,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think anyone would… I didn’t think it would blow up.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
Jessica laughed bitterly.
“Isn’t it?” she snapped. “Because now strangers think they get a vote on my father’s life.”
Hale looked uncomfortable.
“I get it,” he said softly. “My mom… she’s been through it with my grandma. People think age makes you public property.”
Jessica crossed her arms.
“So why are you here?”
Hale glanced down the street like he was checking for cameras.
Then he looked back at us.
“Because the county office got flooded with calls,” he said. “They have to respond. A caseworker is going to do a welfare visit. Tonight.”
Jessica’s face tightened.
I felt my chest go heavy.
Tonight.
Like I was a problem that needed handling before sundown.
Hale added quickly, “It doesn’t mean anything bad. It’s protocol. But I thought… I thought you deserved to hear it from a person, not a knock at the door.”
Jessica’s eyes flashed to me.
“See?” she whispered. “This is what I was trying to prevent.”
“You didn’t prevent it,” I said gently. “You invited it.”
