PART THREE: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
Aliah sat sipping her tea as Mina paced and listed the reasons why she was the worst parent ever - taking off across the country instead of working through Mina's problems, being The Warrior again, choosing to take Gabriel with her when she knew Mina would like nothing better than to go, and simply just being who she was. As her daughter's anger wound up, she dug deep for every past grievance.
It would be pointless defending herself, because Mina was in no mood to listen. While her daughter ranted, she made some token attempts to interrupt; after all, Mina would expect her to protest a little. Meanwhile, she was actually thinking about what she needed to do to prepare for her departure in two days' time.
As she mentally reassigned her meetings to others, she realised the room was silent. Placing her cup on the table, she raised her eyes to her daughter. Mina stood in front of her, hands on hips.