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And none of it changed what happened.

Sam finally looked at me.

“Avery, I don’t want to keep having this conversation.”

I nodded.

“I don’t hate you.”

That surprised me.

She looked toward the babies again.

“But I’m not over it either.”

“I don’t expect you to be.”

“I don’t know if I ever will be.”

That one hurt.

But I deserved it.

“I understand.”

“And I don’t want every time we’re in the same room to turn into you apologizing and me having to figure out what the fuck I’m supposed to say back.”

I nodded slowly.

“Okay.”

“If we’re gonna have any kind of relationship, it can’t be that.”

She looked at me.

“For right now, this is what I can do.”

I knew what this meant.

Being in the same room.

Letting our babies know each other.

Answering my calls when they mattered.

Asking whether my unborn child was healthy.

Not pretending I didn’t exist.

It wasn’t the sisterhood we had before.

But it was something.

And after what I’d done, I couldn’t demand more.

“This is enough,” I said.

Sam held my eyes for a second.