He wiped a hand over his face.
“And I just stood there holding her, thinking this is what it feels like to be handed back your own heart.”
The apartment seemed too small for the size of that sentence.
Lauren looked toward the kitchen because she could not look at him while feeling this much.
“You found her,” she said.
“Because she was still there long enough for me to reach her.”
He let that settle.
“Because you fed her.”
Lauren leaned against the wall.
Some small locked place inside her loosened.
Not fixed.
Not even close.
But loosened.
For two hours she had been telling herself she had lost everything over one stupid decision.
Now a child was home because of it.
That mattered.
It didn’t pay rent.
It didn’t fill prescriptions.
It still mattered.
“How is she?” Lauren asked.
Ethan’s whole face changed.
Tired, yes.
