Chapter 16

Kate

My mom sits on the bed while I use the restroom for a while. I come out to meet her seated patiently on the bed. She helps me hold my hair up while I narrate everything that happened to her. She listens attentively, quietly nodding her head as I tell her everything. The more I tell her, the more it feels like I’m reliving the moment again. I feel more stupid than I actually did when it actually happened. When I’m done, I bury my head in my hands to hide how embarrassed I feel about how I handled everything.

She sighs, taking in everything I’ve just said. For a moment, she doesn’t say anything. She probably realizes how stupid her daughter is. I still don’t look up at her when I hear her speak.

“You know, Kate, we all get to make certain mistakes at one point in our lives, and it’s normal to feel stupid afterward. It is also very normal to feel insecure at some point; it happens when we don’t know or understand better,” she starts to say. I look up at her now,