The Daughter They Tried to Break

My mother always said she was a modern woman.

She said women these days didn’t need to get married!

She said, “If you don’t have money, why would you have kids?”

But I was the only one who knew she was the most selfish person in the world.

Because ever since I was little, people had mocked me by saying:

“Riley, you’ll never finish all those snacks. Your mom found you so many dads!”

My mother came home dressed to the nines with her seventy-second boyfriend, and my aunt’s face turned green with fury.