What to Expect When Setting Boundaries With Your Abuser
Things will get harder before they get easier
Once, my mother apologized to me.
As it was only the one time, I remember it clearly.
I was home from college, and I’d been working a summer job as a waitress. I’d made plans to go out after work with a guy I worked with, Isaías, who I’d been sort of seeing while I was home.
I’d told my parents where I was going and that I’d be home around 10. “Okay, honey,” my mother had said as I walked out the door.
After my shift was over, I went out with Isaías as planned, and while we were out my mother called me on my cell.
“Nikki.” I could hear her clenched teeth, tight lips. “Where the f*** are you.”
I looked at the clock; it was only 9:00. My heart dropped into my stomach as I began wracking my brain to figure out how I had transgressed so I could begin to mitigate the damage before I got home. I came up blank.
“Um, out with Isaías?” I said.
“Oh? You’re not out with Hector?” she demanded. “Because he just called here.”
Her tone was accusatory despite the obvious question of why Hector — a boyfriend from two years prior — would be calling my parents’ house…
