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“I don’t,” Charlie said.“She made life-changing choices for us.”

“And that was wrong, but when Brian found her after all that time, she must’ve felt trapped,” Morgan said.“And then he threatened her.”

“If Alex hid my kids from me for thirty years, I’d go far beyond threatening him,” Abby said.

“I agree with Abby,” Charlie said.“Not being a good husband is different than him being a bad father.When we turned eighteen, we should’ve been able to decide whether we wanted contact with him.”

“Exactly.Mom left him; we didn’t,” Abby said.“My entire life I thought he abandoned us after I was born.That royally screwed me up in so many ways,” Abby kicked a box.

“Mom thought she was protecting us from him,” Morgan said.

“Why are you defending her?”Charlie asked.

Morgan shrugged.“I can’t be mad at her for doing what she thought was right.Besides, she’s dead, so it’s stupid for us to be angry.”

“Are you saying we’re stupid to feel pissed off and betrayed?”Charlie said.

“Just because you can pretend things didn’t happen doesn’t mean we can,” Abby said.

“We can’t change what Mom did.We need to move on,” Morgan said.

“Yeah, you’ve always been good at running away from problems,” Charlie said.

“How dare you?”Morgan said.

“That’s why you got drunk,” Charlie said.“So, you wouldn’t have to deal with anything.”

“Don’t think you can analyze me just because you’re a therapist,” Morgan said.

“I don’t have to be a therapist to recognize the toll your drinking took on our family,” Charlie said.“It used to make me so mad how Mom would always clean up your messes.I told her she should let you hit rock bottom, but she was sure she could help you.”

“I never asked her to help,” Morgan said, her voice rising.

“Well, you got her attention,” Charlie said.

“She was always taking care of you,” Abby said.“She forgot to pick me up from elementary school once because she got called to come to your school when you showed up drunk.And she had to leave in the middle of two high school plays I starred in to get you from the police station.”

“And she almost missed my grad school commencement when you disappeared for two days, and she couldn’t find you,” Charlie said.

“I didn’t know that,” Morgan said.

“Because you were too drunk to notice or care how you were affecting us,” Charlie said.

“I need some air,” Morgan said, picking up her phone and keys and walking toward the front door.

“Yep, run away,” Charlie said.“Just like Mom did.”

Morgan slammed the door without looking back.

CHAPTER 41

Charlie

Morgan had been out past when Charlie fell asleep, but Charlie hadn’t stayed awake worrying.If Morgan ended up in a bar again, that was on her.A part of Charlie felt guilty that she had gone after Morgan, but another part thought Morgan needed to hear it.Morgan had never acknowledged how much stress she had added to their household.

The following morning, Charlie made herself coffee and then went back into her bedroom to finish boxing up the rest of her old belongings.Carla hadn’t touched the room since Charlie moved out other than to change her twin bed to a queen.The wallpaper was still the same pattern, with colorful butterflies flying around a blue sky with white clouds in the background.Charlie had been obsessed with butterflies; she identified with their transition from ungainly wiggly caterpillars into beautiful creatures that soared.Everything she bought when she was younger had butterflies, her purses, earrings, and a turquoise necklace.

Charlie had not opened all her desk drawers in years.Inside one, she found her prize ribbons from elementary school when she competed in gymnastics.She was promising but quit as soon as she grew breasts.A few years ago, she attempted to do a cartwheel, hurt her back, and was laid up for a week.