She said she was angry at herself.
She had watched Diane treat me that way for years and hadn’t said enough.
Then she told me who I reminded her of.
Dad.
He had been the same.
He gave until nothing remained.
Carried everybody without complaining.
“And you know what it got him? Cancer at 51.”
Then she corrected herself.
No.
What it really got him was a family that forgot he was human.
The cancer came afterward.
Something inside my chest cracked.
“He would have told you to stop a
