My Stepdaughter Locked Me out of the House – Then I Found Out Why

I couldn’t breathe.

The front door was locked.

I tried my key twice, hands shaking so badly I could barely fit it in the lock. I finally got the door open, just enough to step inside, and found another note on the floor:

My mind raced through every possible mistake I’d made over the past 11 years.

The harsh words when I was too tired. The times I’d been impatient about homework or curfew.

All the moments I’d been too much of a replacement for the mother Lily had lost and the father who’d died.

Had I said something wrong? Pushed too hard about college applications? Not pushed enough?

Was this about her mother?

About the house Daniel left that was technically still in his name? About me never officially being her parent because I’d been too afraid to overstep?

I pulled out my phone with trembling fingers and called Lily.

She answered on the second ring, like she’d been waiting.

“Lily, honey,” I said, my voice already breaking. “What’s this?

What did I do wrong?”

“There’s one last thing I need to tell you before you leave the house,” she said.

“Please. Just talk to me. I don’t understand what’s happening…”

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