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The next morning, I delivered the performance of a lifetime.<\/p>\n
I bustled around the kitchen, humming a tune, packing my lunch with exaggerated normalcy.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave a great day at school, sweetheart,\u201d I told her as she shouldered her backpack at 7:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou too, Mom,\u201d she said softly. She hesitated at the door, looking back at me for a lingering second, before stepping out into the morning chill.<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
Fifteen minutes later, I got into my car, drove out of the driveway, and turned the corner. But I didn\u2019t go to work. I drove three blocks down, parked my sedan behind a dense row of overgrown hedges near the community park, and killed the engine.<\/p>\n
My hands were shaking as I walked back toward my own house. I moved through the neighbors\u2019 yards, feeling like a criminal in my own life, ducking behind fences and trees. My heart pounded a frantic rhythm against my ribs\u2014thump-thump, thump-thump.<\/p>\n