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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I only discovered the truth when I drove three hours to bring her home\u2014and saw what she was carrying in her arms.<\/p>\n
That Saturday morning, I found myself humming along with the radio as I headed toward the lakeside resort where Sophie had been working for the summer.<\/p>\n
Her favorite cinnamon rolls sat on the passenger seat beside a cup of coffee that had gone cold somewhere along the highway.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
I was excited to see her.<\/p>\n
Ever since my husband, Daniel, died five years earlier, Sophie and I had been each other\u2019s constant.<\/p>\n
Our house had become quiet after his death, but eventually we created our own routines.<\/p>\n
Dinner together whenever possible.<\/p>\n
Sunday-night movies.<\/p>\n
And whenever Sophie was away at college, she called me almost every evening.<\/p>\n
So when she announced that she had accepted a summer job at a resort three hours from home, I told myself it was a good thing.<\/p>\n
She was nineteen.<\/p>\n
She needed independence.<\/p>\n
She needed adventures that didn\u2019t involve worrying about her widowed mother.<\/p>\n
Still, on the morning she left, I hugged her longer than necessary in the driveway.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll call me, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
She laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery night, Mom. I promise.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for the most part, she did.<\/p>\n
That summer, Sophie sounded happier than she had since her father died.<\/p>\n
She was constantly talking about hiking, swimming in the lake, and exploring nearby towns with coworkers.<\/p>\n
Whenever we video-called, she looked different.<\/p>\n
Tanned.<\/p>\n
Her hair lighter from the sun.<\/p>\n
Laughing more easily.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look happy, sweetheart,\u201d I told her one evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am,\u201d she said. \u201cI really am.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was only one thing that began bothering me.<\/p>\n
A girl from housekeeping kept coming up in Sophie\u2019s stories.<\/p>\n
One night, Sophie casually mentioned going hiking.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friend and I went on this trail near the lake today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich friend?\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a tiny pause.<\/p>\n
Barely noticeable.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a girl from housekeeping. You don\u2019t know her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s her name?\u201d<\/p>\n
Another hesitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMia.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t think much of it at first.<\/p>\n
Sophie was nineteen years old.<\/p>\n
Of course she had friends I didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
But after that conversation, I began noticing something strange.<\/p>\n
Whenever I asked about Mia or tried to get more details about Sophie\u2019s life at the resort, my daughter suddenly became vague.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything okay up there?\u201d I asked once.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything\u2019s great, Mom. Stop worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n
So I did my best to stop.<\/p>\n
Or at least pretend to.<\/p>\n
When summer finally ended, I volunteered to drive up and bring Sophie home.<\/p>\n
I left before sunrise.<\/p>\n
About forty minutes from the resort, I stopped for gas and called her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m almost there, honey.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then she hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom, when you get here, can you wait outside the employee building?\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust don\u2019t come inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her answer came too quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just easier if I come out to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSophie, is something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Nothing\u2019s wrong. I just want to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I told myself she was simply being nineteen.<\/p>\n
Private.<\/p>\n
Independent.<\/p>\n
Maybe embarrassed by her messy room.<\/p>\n
I had no idea how wrong I was.<\/p>\n
I arrived at the resort shortly before eleven and parked exactly where Sophie had instructed me.<\/p>\n
Beyond the employee building, sunlight glittered across the lake.<\/p>\n
I turned off the engine and waited.<\/p>\n
Any second now, Sophie would walk through those doors.<\/p>\n
My summer of missing her would finally be over.<\/p>\n
Then the door opened.<\/p>\n
Sophie stepped outside.<\/p>\n
My daughter called me almost every evening that summer, yet somehow managed to keep the biggest secret of her life from me. I only discovered the truth when I drove three hours to bring...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n