She added, “And who is allowed to say no.”
Dad lifted his beer.
Mom raised her cup.
Nobody laughed.
I didn’t need the toast, but I accepted it.
Then Lily called me from the yard, and I set my drink down and went to her.
The folder had disappeared into a drawer months earlier.
The lesson had not.
Paying the bills had never made me important.
Being their daughter, Rachel’s sister, Lily’s mother, and a person whose effort deserved respect had done that long before any of them noticed.
