slept beside us.
Not because Tessa was suffering.
Because Eric’s stories had finally started colliding with each other.
One evening, Barbara visited while Chloe slept beside us.
She watched the bassinet quietly.
“I taught him some of this,” she said.
Her eyes moved toward Chloe.
“What?”
She rubbed her palms together.
“Whenever Eric made a mess, I fixed it before he had to.”
“Rent. Cars. Missed deadlines. I kept telling myself I was helping him succeed.”
Her eyes moved toward Chloe.
“Maybe I was just teaching him that somebody else would always carry the consequences.”
Barbara kept stirring her coffee.
Three weeks later, Eric showed up unannounced at Barbara’s house while Chloe and I were visiting.
“Tell Claire she’s being unreasonable,” he said.
Barbara kept stirring her coffee.
“No.”
Eric stared.
“You’re my mother.”
He stood there awkwardly, watching his daughter breathe.
“Exactly,” she answered.
Then Eric noticed Chloe sleeping
