“But you also can’t live your life for him,” she said. Her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Right in the rib cage and it hurt like hell. There was so much truth in that statement. For the last four years I’d made Zac the center of my world. My relationship with him had become the most important relationship of my life. At times it had been one of the hardest too. But despite that, I’d poured everything into it, even if sometimes it felt like a one-way street, like pouring water into an empty well that never filled up and never gave water in return. I lived for those small in-between moments, when he let me hug him or hold his hand, when he told me I was pretty or placed his little hand on my cheek.

“It’s my responsibility to parent Zac.” My mom finally broke the silence. “Not yours. I haven’t been doing a very good job, and I want to change that.”

I looked down at the ticket in my hands, a part of me wanted to go so badly, a part of me wanted to get on that flight but . . . Zac?

“Zac is going to be fine,” she said. “He’ll adapt and you’ll come home on holidays, and he’s enjoying his new school and keeping busy.”

“But the change to his routine will throw him so much—”

“Lori! Stop!” My mother cut me off. “You cannot live your life for him,” she said again, slowly, emphasizing every single word.

And then another thought hit me. Jake. I took a step back.

“What?” my mom asked. She pulled a chair out at the kitchen table and sat down; I did the same.

“There’s this guy,” I said softly. “I think I really like him.” An involuntary warm flush came over me as I said that out loud.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Let me give you some advice. I haven’t given you much motherly advice over the last few years, so let me make up for it now.”

I looked at her and waited. She looked like she was gathering her thoughts, choosing her words. “I once lost who I was because of a man. Lost my identity and lost my sense of self.” She forced a small smile. “Don’t do that, Lori. Go and become who you’re supposed to become and if it’s meant to be with him, it will be. And if it isn’t, there’ll always be guys lining up to be with my amazing, talented, now-famous daughter.”