Zara smiled. The block had given her silence. But the unblock gave her something better: a second chance.

“Okay.” A tiny, grateful sound. “Okay.” The surgery lasted four hours. Zara sat in a plastic chair, holding her mother’s hand. Neither of them spoke about the block. Neither of them needed to.

She never let her phone go to voicemail again.

“Hello?” Her mother’s voice cracked. Not angry. Small.