I'm sorry you don't like coming back here," her mother often said, to cap whatever petty dust-up they'd had. How could Emily explain: it wasn't her mother or Kersey she'd disowned, but her earlier self, that strange, ungrateful girl who strove to be first at everything and threw tantrums when she failed.
Stewart O'Nan, Emily, Alone
aging, arguments, coming-home, daughters, family, fights, growing-up, home, mothers, relationships, youth