“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.
“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 nearby.
Nobody moved toward her.
Nobody offered him anything.
He stood there awkwardly, watching his daughter breathe.
He opened his mouth.
Finally, he asked, “Can I hold her?”
I studied him.
“When did you last ask how her breathing treatments were going?”
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
“I don’t know.”
“You can learn to be her father.”
