It didn’t repair everything.
But for the first time, the lie stopped.
Dad admitted that after Mom died, he had allowed Shirley to remove her belongings because seeing them hurt too much.
But he finally understood that Shirley had turned his grief against me.
“You don’t get to punish my daughter because she looks like Kathy.”
Mrs. Chen asked Shirley to leave the prom.
Furious and humiliated, Shirley stormed out.
Then Mrs. Chen asked whether I wanted to go home.
For a moment, I did.
Then I looked at Mom’s photograph on the screen.
I remembered her voice.
I didn’t make this dress so you could disappear.
I straightened my shoulders.
“No. Mom made this dress for prom. I’m staying.”
Gary smiled.
“Good. Because I still don’t know how to dance.”
“Neither do I.”
I took his hand.
And I stayed.
Later that night, Dad put Mom’s photograph back in the hallway.
