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Chapter 4
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They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 9
There was no "Mom" or anything else attached to the message, but Faye stared at it for a long time anyway. She didn't ask who Olivia was celebrating with, where she was going, or why she wasn't coming home.She simply replied, [Okay.]On my twenty-seventh birthday, Megan tricked me into walking into the conference room. The moment I opened the door, streamers rained down on me.A six-inch cake sat on the table, its frosting still perfectly intact. The candles were a two and a seven, and beside them was a handwritten card.[Olivia, no working late on your birthday!]Someone turned off the lights, and more than a dozen people launched into "Happy Birthday." Nobody was quite in sync, and by the last line, half the room was laughing.I stood in front of the candles for a moment before Megan nudged me. "Make a wish."I closed my eyes.A year ago, all I'd wanted was for my family to spend one evening with me at the movies. This year, I thought about it for a long time and realized there was
They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 8
"It's not the dress I wanted anymore."Mom's hands went still."But I took it apart and fixed it. Doesn't that make it yours again?" Her voice faltered as she spoke.I looked at her. "No. It doesn't."You couldn't sew a patch over every piece that had been cut away and expect to get back what you'd started with. And being told something had been meant for you didn't undo all the times you'd been passed over.Mom slowly lowered the dress into her lap, running her fingers over one of the new seams again and again. After a long silence, she said, "I made your very first dress too, you know. It was red. You spent forever twirling around the yard in it."She kept her eyes on the dress. "Then Lily was born, and there was never enough of anything. I kept thinking you were older, so you could wait. She was little, so she couldn't." Her voice caught. "I made you wait so often that I forgot you were only eight years older than she was."When she finally looked up, tears fell onto the yellow fab
They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 7
Finally, she held out the paper bag. "I washed the dress.""You can keep it.""But it's yours."I didn't take it. "The fabric was mine. The dress isn't. It was made to fit you."Lily's eyes immediately filled with tears. She tightened her grip on the edge of the bag. "I knew that day," she said quietly. "I knew you'd bought the fabric, and I knew the dress was supposed to be your birthday present. Mom said you wouldn't really be mad, so I wore it anyway."She sniffed. "Liv, I'm sorry."I studied her. This was probably the first time Lily had apologized without hiding behind "I'm younger" or "Mom gave it to me.""Is that all you came here for? To bring me the dress?"She shook her head and pulled a clear folder from her backpack. Inside were the old receipts she'd found, along with a bank card."I applied for financial aid, and I got a part-time job for weekends. From now on, I'll figure out my own tuition and living expenses." She held out the card. "There's six thousand dollars in he
They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 6
Faye remembered telling Olivia to text when she arrived at college, but she couldn't remember whether Olivia ever had.On the bus home, she opened her daughter's social media profile for the first time. Olivia hadn't removed her, but Faye couldn't see any of her posts. When she switched to their message history and began scrolling, she found little besides transfers, bills, and reminders.[Mom, did you pick up your prescription?][I sent an extra thousand this month. Get Lily some shoes.][I paid the gas bill.][Working this weekend. I won't be home for dinner.]Faye's replies were usually [Got it] or [Send a little more.] No matter how far back she scrolled, she couldn't find a single time she'd asked Olivia whether she'd eaten.Their last exchange had been on Olivia's birthday. Faye had asked if she'd found Lily, and Olivia hadn't answered.After staring at the unanswered message for a moment, Faye closed the app and called her daughter."Hello?"Olivia sounded calm, with voices in t
They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 5
Neither of them had ever stopped to think about why Olivia was so good at putting everything back together.Now she wasn't there to do it.The night college applications were due, Faye and Lily fought from seven in the evening until well past midnight. Lily insisted on applying to schools up north, so Faye unplugged the router.In tears, Lily rushed into Olivia's tiny bedroom to look for her old laptop, only to find the room half empty. The computer was gone, along with the blue notebook Olivia used to track the household expenses. A few empty hangers were all that remained in the closet, tapping softly against one another whenever the breeze stirred them.For the first time, it sank in that Olivia had really moved out. This wasn't a business trip she'd be back from in a few days.Lily pulled open the bottom drawer and found a clear folder containing a few old receipts Olivia had left behind.The one on top was from the summer program abroad Lily had attended during her junior year of
They Made Me Play Peacemaker on My Birthday Chapter 4
As the train pulled out of the station, I got a message from one of my new coworkers, Megan Carter, in Norham.[Ms. Lawson, your apartment is all set. I left some water in the fridge for you. Text me when you get here.]It was such an ordinary message, but I stared at it for a long time. Apparently, when you moved far away, there really were people who thought to make sure you'd have something to drink when you arrived.It took Mom three days after I left to realize I wasn't coming home as she'd expected.That morning, she got a notice that the gas payment had been declined and called me."Why isn't there any money in the account? Send me two thousand right now. Lily still needs money for her enrollment fees."I was in a meeting at the branch office with my phone on silent. Two hours later, I texted her back.[I sent you the gas account information. You'll need to link your own card. You and Lily can figure out her enrollment fees yourselves.]My phone rang almost immediately."You're
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