What We Missed

Nicole Carter becomes a mother at sixteen, long before she understands herself, love, or responsibility. Her daughter, Amaya Carter, grows up wanting the kind of mother-daughter bond she sees in other girls, but Nicole is often emotionally absent, distracted by men, survival, and her own unmet needs. For years, Amaya has learned to stop expecting her mother to show up. She grows into a capable but guarded woman, carrying the ache of being loved inconsistently. Nicole, meanwhile, ages into the painful awareness that the love she chased never filled the space she neglected at home. By the time Amaya is thirty-five, both women are carrying grief over the years they cannot get back. Slowly, through hard conversations, honesty, resentment, forgiveness, and boundaries, they begin to build the bond they missed. Read more