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 saw 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 appeared 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.
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 sat slightly higher than the other.
Caleb used to make that exact expression whenever he was confused.
