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pang of longing or nostalgia, as she seeks out the news—her staples of local, world, weather, and politics.
    “Oh, you’re awake.” As Harper looks up from her phone, she sees Hilary, her brows pinched in confusion, standing just inside the doorway. She smiles and cocks her head to the side, as if to say, Isn’t that obvious? “I was just heading out. Saw your light was on, and figured I’d turn it off.” Hilary’s dressed in her work attire, black pants and a mint green Meat and Eat button-down, an apron bearing the same logo tucked beneath her arm, and Harper’s gaze slides to her closet where her matching uniforms have sat unused. “Everything okay?”
    “Everything’s okay,” Harper echoes and she’s nearly surprised by how easily and honestly the words spill from her mouth. She can’t tell if they fall so effortlessly from her lips because she’s finally perfected the lie, or if it’s because she finally means them. “I’m okay,” she reiterates, thinking it as a question, but the words come steadily, not forced or an apparent, flimsy guise of well-being. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah,” she confirms without hesitation.
    “Good.” Hilary gives Harper a smile, one that reaches all the way to the crinkled corners of her eyes. “I’m happy to hear that.”
    “Thank you.” Again, the words that come from Harper’s mouth take on their own meaning as they escape, and the thank you feels too earnest for something as simple as her mother checking in on her. She gets to her feet, leaving her phone on the seat behind her as she stands, and crosses the room to Hilary, searching for the right words. “Mom,” she says softly as she approaches, and reaches up to hug her mother’s neck. At five-foot-two, she’s a whole head shorter than Hilary, and she stands on her toes as she wraps her arms around her, just how she did as a child. “Thank you for—for everything.”
    “Oh, Harp, it’s nothing—”
    “No, it is. It’s—it’s something.” As they release one another, Harper looks up as her mother’s eyes start to brim with tears. “I know I haven’t been the easiest person to deal with—outright fucking horrible, really, and I—I just—thank you for not giving up on me.”
    “I won’t ever give up on you, Harp,” Hilary answers steadily, wiping a tear away as it begins to roll down her cheek. “You don’t give up on the people you love.”
    “Maybe that’s why this has been so hard.” Harper sighs and her own tears form, causing her voice to crack as she says, “I—I still love him.”
    “I know, honey.”
    “I shouldn’t—”
    “Shouldn’t?” Harper looks down, ashamed, but Hilary hooks a finger beneath Harper’s chin and tilts her head up to meet her stare. “Harp, there’s no should or shouldn’t here. There’s no set way to handle this. You got your heart broken and like all fractures, it needed and obviously still needs time to mend.” Hilary swipes a tear from Harper’s cheek and gives her a solemn smile, one which Harper just barely returns. “You’ll love him less and less as time wears on. He’ll just be a scar. I promise you.”
    “Do you love Dad less than when he—”
    “Oh, no. Not at all. But that’s a completely different scenario.” Harper laughs softly at how taken aback her mother looks and how quick she is to answer, and Hilary shakes her head at Harper’s amusement, though she would rather that than the tears. “Really, though, it’ll happen. I may not know firsthand, but I’ve had many a conversation with your Aunt Marlene in the last few weeks and I can assure you she sure as shit hates your darling ex-Uncle Pete.”
    “Liam didn’t cheat on me.”
    “Yes, but Liam is still an asshole.” Hilary stops tiptoeing around Harper and lets her cautious façade falter completely, giving way to the fiery woman she really is, and it garners the response she hopes for. Harper smiles broadly at both the woman and the