Reluctantly, Diane stood, tossing a glance at her mother. Carol forced a smile, though her throat was dry. When the door closed behind her, the office shrank in an instant, leaving Carol and the principal face-to-face, the unspoken years pressing down like a storm about to break.
The principal leaned back slightly, her eyes never leaving Carol. “It’s been a long time,” she said. The words were calm, but they carried weight—years of silence, of memory, of wounds that had never healed. Carol’s pulse roared in her ears, each beat a reminder of recognition.