At 6 A.M. My Daughter Texted Me About the Money She Took and Said She Was Gone for Good

still forty-five years of accumulated reflex, wanted to rescue her. Emily was sitting across from me, not prompting, just present, and I thought of what she had said earlier about the well running dry and the difference between being alone and abused versus simply being alone.

“Lucy,” I said, “when you decided to steal from me, you lost the right to continue reading …