That took my breath away.
Then she said, “Mom, you don’t let people be scared. You fix everything before they can even say what they’re afraid of.”
I gripped the phone.
“So that
makes this okay?”
“No. It doesn’t.”
“Mom, you don’t let people be scared.”
Her voice softened.
“But if you want the truth, that’s part of it too.”
For the first time that night, I didn’t have an answer ready.
“So that’s what you think of me?”
Tilly was quiet for a moment.
“I think you love us by taking care of things. Sometimes so fast that nobody gets to say what they’re feeling first.”
Her voice softened.
“But he still should’ve told you,” she added. “I told him that.”
“Did
he listen?”
“Not then.”
After we hung up, I couldn’t keep believing Conor was simply wrong and I was simply right.
