Sadie’s face went pale.
For a second, she said nothing.
Then she opened the door wider.
“You should come inside.”
Every instinct told me something was wrong.
Still, I stepped onto the porch.
The front room was small but clean. A worn couch sat against one wall. Children’s books were stacked inside a plastic crate near the television.
I noticed them immediately.
Then I noticed the tiny blue sneakers near the hallway.
My chest tightened.
“Do you have a child?”
Sadie froze.
Jasper walked toward the hallway and disappeared around the corner.
Before she could answer, a small voice called from another room.
“Mommy?”
I looked at Sadie.
She closed her eyes briefly.
Then a little boy came around the corner.
He looked about three years old.
He wore dinosaur pajamas even though it was the middle of the afternoon. His brown hair stuck up on one side.
He stopped when he saw me.
I forgot how to breathe.
There was something about his face.
Something painfully familiar.
His eyes.
The shape of his mouth.
The way one eyebrow lifted slightly higher than the other.
Caleb used to make that exact expression when he was confused.
The boy pointed at me.
“Who’s that?”
Sadie’s voice shook.
“This is Diane.”
The little boy smiled.
“Hi.”
I couldn’t answer.
I looked at Sadie.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Diane.”
“No.”
“I wanted to tell you.”
My hands began trembling.
“Tell me what?”
She looked at the little boy.
