“Stop bringing her here.”
My heart thudded painfully.
“Eric—”
“I have a new life now. Take your kid and go.”
Tessa laughed softly behind him.
Then the door closed.
I stood on the porch staring at it.
Chloe made another soft noise.
And something inside me changed.
For weeks, I had been waiting for Eric to remember who he used to be.
Waiting for him to care.
Waiting for him to become the man I once believed I had married.
That afternoon, I stopped waiting.
Part 4 — The Last Person I Expected
I cried most of the drive home.
By the time I reached my apartment, I had almost nothing left in me.
My neighbor June saw me struggling with Chloe’s carrier and immediately came over.
“Let me help.”
Normally, I would have smiled and insisted I was fine.
That had become my automatic response.
I’m fine.
We’re fine.
I’ve got it.
But I wasn’t fine.
So I let June carry Chloe upstairs.
Once inside, she asked if there was anyone she could call.
I looked at my phone.
There was one person.
The last person I wanted to ask for help.
Barbara.
Eric’s mother.
Barbara and I had never been close.
She thought I took things too personally.
I thought she had spent Eric’s entire life making excuses for him.
If he forgot something, Barbara fixed it.
If he ran short on money, Barbara helped.
If he created a problem, somehow someone else ended up solving it.
After Eric left, Barbara had stopped contacting me entirely.
I assumed she had chosen her son.
Still, I called.
She answered sounding half asleep.
“Claire?”
My voice broke almost immediately.
“Barbara…”
Her tone changed.
“What’s wrong?”
And then, for the first time, I told her everything.
I didn’t soften the details.
I didn’t defend Eric.
I told her about the savings.
The other woman.
The emergency delivery.
Chloe’s medical expenses.
The phone call.
