My body was dripping with sweat as I ran down from Cinema 18’s low-side to high-side hallway. Outside, the storm continued to boom, and the emergency lights flickered on in the building. 

I weaved through the crowd of angry guests and rushed into auditorium nine. The screen was off, and the crowd of customers there were rising up from their seat. 

I pulled out my walkie and spoke into it. “Picture and sound are off in nine.”

Then I turned to the guests. 

“Everyone, please remain seated!” I said loudly but firmly over the noise of dissent. “We are working to get the screens up and running again. We appreciate your patience.”

“Working on nine now,” Katie, one of the three assistant managers on shift, said over the walkie. 

“What’s the status on seven?” Owen, my usher partner for today, asked. 

We waited for a response, but none came. 

“Who’s working on seven?” Katie asked. 

“I’m on eight right now,” Lewis, the second manager replied. 

The screen turned on, and I winced at the boom of sound that cracked on. The audience began shouting demands, and I gestured for them to lower their voices. 

“Sound and picture are back on in nine,” I said into the walkie. “They want to rewind back fifteen minutes.”

The screen blinked off for a moment before flicking back on to an earlier scene. The customers erupted into cheers and claps, and I rushed out of the auditorium and into the next one. 

“Fuck, Lloyd was supposed to be on seven,” Lewis said. 

Lloyd was the lead assistant manager, but he was also the most useless one.  

“Well, where is he now?” Katie asked irately. 

“Not here,” Lewis answered. “Hold on, I’ll get seven after eight.”

“There’s picture in ten but no sound,” I said and looked around the auditorium. “No guests though. I’ll move on to the next.”

About forty-five minutes later, all the screens had been fixed, and all that was left to do was to deal with the angry guests in the lobby. Lloyd had come back half-way through, claiming that he was on a smoke break. Based on his red shot eyes, we knew it wasn’t just a regular smoke break. 

“You’re going to be about thirty minutes behind for each finish time for the next two hours,” Katie told me in the managers’ office after we were finished. Lloyd and Lewis were off doing damage control while Katie was drawing up a report in the office. 

“Great,” I said dryly. 

“Grab one of the concession people if you need an extra hand,” she said and then sighed deeply. 

“Hey.” I spun her chair around, and she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re doing a great job.”

Katie was the most competent managers out of the six that we had, but due to connection, Lloyd took the role of the lead assistant manager. Everyone knew Katie deserved the title, and we all treated her like it. She was everyone’s favorite manager, but I, of course, had more reasons for it. 

“Lloyd is such a fucking ass,” she muttered. 

I laughed and then leaned in and kissed her lips gently. She pressed hers firmly against mine and reached up to caress my cheek. 

“Will you be able to stay back tonight?” she asked after I pulled away. 

“I have a show tonight, but I can come by afterwards. Noah’s spending the night at a friend’s” I said. 

“Good,” she murmured and leaned in for another kiss. 

“The lights in the kitchen are doing a weird thing,” Lloyd’s voice rang through our walkies. “It just turned off.”

Katie sighed against my lips. “I hate him.”

“There’s a button in the back,” Lewis replied. “Just hit the--actually no, I’ll do it. Don’t touch anything.”

I chuckled and then backed towards the door. “I’m gonna go do my job now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved me off with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight.”

I gave her a wink before heading out into the mess that awaited me. 

------

As soon as my shift ended at six, I changed out of my uniform and into my performance clothes, which consisted of loose black trousers tightened with a black belt and a black vest buttoned over a lacy bra.

I drove to the Killer Whale bar, which was my band's performance spot for the night and fixed up my makeup in the car while I waited for my band to arrive.

They arrived not too long after. I grabbed my electric guitar and met them at the van.

"How was work?" Sadie, the drummer, asked. She had decided to keep her curly hair down today and wore a blue flannel over a simple tank and loose jeans.

"Hell," I answered. "The power went out."

"Again?" Laura, our bassist, said. She was also my ex. "Isn't that like the third time this year?"

"Fourth," I said as I helped unload equipment from the van.

She raised a brow, and I shrugged. Our on and off relationship had gone on for two years before we ended things after a long overdue explosive argument. She had been my first serious relationship but also the most tumultuous, and when we ended things finally, the band had almost fallen apart. It only took Sadie locking us in Alex's basement, where we did our practices, for Laura and I to talk things out and settle on being friends. After we argued and threw things around for an hour straight, of course.

She was still stubborn as shit and wild like fire, but I was glad to still have her as a friend. A friend that I slept with sometimes, though not for the last seven months now that I was having sex with Katie.

My love life was a mess.

"Dude, that place is like bad luck," Alex, our second guitarist, said as she climbed off the van with her guitar in hand. Her wavy, blonde hair was streaked with pink and braided into a long tail behind her back. She was dressed in a pink crop and black leather pants. "Like really bad luck."

"I'm actually surprised the place hasn't caught on fire," Sadie said casually.

My eyes widened, and I snapped my head towards her. "Please don't say that."

She merely smirked and wheeled her drum set into the bar.

"Don't worry," Laura said as she followed Sadie. "If the building catches on fire, then at least the rain will put it out."

I glared at her, and she laughed. Alex opened her mouth, but I put my hand up. "Please don't say anything.”

She closed her mouth, and smiled sheepishly before heading inside. Sighing, I followed them. 

-----

The Killer Whale was brimming with weekend energy as we set up on stage. There was already a steady stream of customers coming in and out of the bar, and I felt my body growing with excitement. 

Performing always gave me a thrill, and despite whatever I felt before, it was always swept away by that thrill. I knew my bandmates were also growing excited by the large crowd.

We had agreed to a three-hour session for tonight, and I ran over the setlist one more time as I hydrated. 

Then, when everything was set up, I stepped up to the mic with my guitar.

“Hello, we are The Daydreamers,” I announced to to the crowd. “This first one is called Sunset Holiday. Enjoy.”

Then we began. 

By the second song, we had the crowd’s attention, and most of them had shifted towards the stage. By the third song, the crowd had grown larger as more guests entered the bar. 

I glanced back at my group, grinning. They each shot me one in return. 

With the fifth song, we were approaching the end of the first hour. It was a slower song, so I switched out the electric for my acoustic guitar. It was the one Maeve had given me all those years ago. I held it tenderly now as I sat down on a stool in front of the crowd. 

“This one is called Everlasting,” I said into the mic. 

As I strummed the first couple chords, a particular memory came back to me. My chest tightened at the memory of the first time I played the song for Charlotte Simmons and our almost-kiss. 

That had been ten years ago, but it still hurt every single time I played the song. It was my group’s first song, though, and we played it at every show. 

I closed my eyes as I got lost in the song. The memory of hazel eyes and soft laughter flickered through my mind, and when I opened my eyes at the end of the song, the memory faded. 

For a moment, the crowd was quiet. I lowered the guitar and stared back at them warily. I glanced back at my group, who looked just as confused. Then, just as I turned back to the guests, my eyes met familiar hazel ones in the far back just as the crowd burst into cheers. 

My ears were ringing with noise, and my body had grown still. Despite that, I never took my eyes off her, and she didn’t look away from me either.  

“They fucking love us,” Laura shouted into my ear over the noise, and I snapped back to the present. 

All of the air rushed back into my lungs, and I backed away from the mic. She was still standing there, watching me, her expression blank. Could she actually see me?

It didn’t seem that way, but she was staring right at me. 

“Where are you going?” Laura shouted. 

“I need a break!” I told them. 

“We still have half an hour until then!” Alex said. 

“We’ll just go on an early break,” Sadie said and stood up from her drum set. She gave me a reassuring nod. I shot her a small smile before rushing off the stage and out the back door. 

Fresh air filled my lungs, and I collapsed against the wall. That couldn’t have been her. It had been too dark, and she wasn’t the only one with hazel eyes. 

But the longer I thought about it, the more uncertain I became. She had looked so much like Charlotte. I was almost sure that it had been her. 

I sucked in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. 

No. 

Charlotte was hundreds of miles away. It couldn’t have been her. 

I willed my heart to calm and for my mind to clear, and when they did, I opened the door to reenter the bar. But someone was standing on the other side, and all of the air left my body again when I saw who it was. 

Charlotte Simmons was not hundreds of miles away. She was right here, and she was staring right at me. 

My mouth fell open, but I was unable to speak. I could only stare at her, my eyes scanning over every inch of her. Her hair was shorter now, cut closer to her chin and straightened. Her makeup was in a natural shade, and her lips were a glossy pink. She was wearing a striped jumpsuit tonight with heels that gave her an extra inch on me. 

“Jess,” she finally said, taking a step forward. “You’re Jess Silva, aren’t you?”

“You can see me,” I breathed out in disbelief. 

“I got my vision repaired through an experimental surgery,” she said and then frowned. “So you’ve been hiding out here all this time.”

“You’re supposed to be in Atlanta,” I said. 

“Not anymore. I just moved here.”

“Why?”

She took another step forward, and her brows furrowed in what I recognized as anger. “You’re asking me why? I should be asking you that. Why did you disappear ten years ago?”

I shook my head and backed away from her. “Charlotte, I can’t--”

“I thought something had happened to you,” she snapped. “I begged my dad to find out, but he couldn’t find any information. I went to find Maeve, and she told me you just left. Do you know how heartbroken she was?”

I turned away. “Stop.”

“No,” she said firmly. “You just left us all without a fucking word. You don’t get to run away now.”

“I didn’t want to leave.” The words burst out before I could stop them. 

Her frown deepened, and she took another step towards me. It was so strange now that she could see all of my expressions. “Then why did you?”

Thankfully, Sadie entered the back, and her eyes flicked between the two of us with concern. “Jess, we need you back up there.”

I nodded and moved towards the front. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Charlotte said. 

I swallowed tightly. “I can’t.”

Disappointment flickered through her eyes, and then she stormed out. All of the energy left my body, and I sagged against the wall. 

“Whoa there.” Sadie took ahold of me. “Who was that?”

“No one,” I said.

But Charlotte was not no one. She had been everything to me, and I had left her. 

------

Charlotte had left the bar entirely. 

We finished the performance two hours later, but I had lost all of my initial excitement from before. All that brewed in me now was exhaustion, but as much as I craved my bed, I didn’t want to go back to an empty apartment yet. 

Fulfilling my promise to Katie, I drove back to the theater. It was one in the morning by the time I arrived, and it was the end of her shift. I shot her a text after parking and walked to the back entrance. 

A moment later, the door swung open, and I pressed her against the wall, my lips crashing into hers. 

“Is everyone gone?” I asked through our kiss. 

She moaned a confirmation, and I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the managers’ office. 

“You look so hot tonight,” she said breathlessly as she unlocked the office’s door. 

We stumbled into the room, and her fingers curled into my waistband. I backed her into a table as her fingers worked my buckle and unsnapped my belt. I slid it off and tossed it to the side. Then I lifted her up and set her down on the table. 

Her eyes never left mine as I lowered myself to my knees and pulled down her pants and panties, revealing her bushy center. I tossed them to the side, pushed her knees apart, and pressed my face in between them. 

“Oh fuck,” she moaned as my tongue slid out and curled between her labia. 

My tongue ran down the length of her folds, wetting them. Her hips bucked wildly, and I gripped them tightly as my tongue continued to dive deeper into her region. 

I sucked her clit between my lips and suckled on it gently. She grabbed my head and pushed it deeper against her. 

“Oh, baby,” she gasped out. “You’re doing so well.”

I chuckled against her folds, and she shivered from the sensation. As my tongue alternated on flicking her clit and sucking on it, I slid two fingers into her. She wrapped her legs around my head as her moans grew louder. 

My fingers worked themselves in and out of her as I continued to eat her out. My tongue curled deep into her, and as her legs began to tremble, she pushed my head away. 

“My bag,” she panted. “In my bag.”

I grabbed her purse off the hook at the door and returned to her. Exhaustedly, she reached into the purse and pulled out a strapless, blue dildo. It was a decent length with one end that curled into a ‘U’ shape. There was a black button on a silver piece. 

My lips formed a smirk as I took it from her hands and lowered my pants. I stepped out of them as she tossed her bag to the side and slid off the table and onto her knees. I watched as her face disappeared between my legs, and one second later, her warm tongue slithered between my folds. 

I grabbed ahold of the table as the pleasure fluttered through my stomach. She lapped at me as I rode her face. Then, when I was wet enough, she withdrew and sat back on the table. My eyes never left hers as I lowered the dildo between my legs and gently pushed the curled end into my hole. 

My eyes fluttered shut from the feeling of fullness, and I let myself adjust to it before reopening my eyes and stepping towards Katie. She laid back down on the table and gripped the table’s edge as I nudged the other end into her hole. 

I gently pushed the entire length into her, and she exhaled shakily. Then I reached down between us and pressed the button on the dildo. The vibrations came to life, and my inner walls trembled from the sensation. 

She threw her head back. “Oh fuck!”

My hips worked the dildo in and out of her despite my legs trembling from the pleasure. 

Then Katie sat up, and she ripped my vest open. The buttons flew all over the room, and I thrust into her faster. She pressed her face into my chest as her fingers unloosened my bra. Just as cool air touched my breasts, I picked her up from the table. 

She wrapped her arms around my neck tightly as I slid her up and down on the length of the dildo. 

“I’m gonna cum,” she panted into my ears. 

I felt my own pleasure bubbling up from the pit of my stomach, and as Katie screamed out from the release, I dropped her back onto the table and rode out my own orgasm. 

When the last bit of my orgasm faded, I pulled out of her and collapsed into a chair. The dildo still stuck out of me, and I pulled it out and tossed it to the floor with a plop. 

Katie sat up, grinning tiredly. “Hottest fuck of my life, honestly.”

I chuckled and leaned back against the chair. “This beats the one in the janitor’s closet?”

“Oh, by a million times,” she answered. “I’m just thinking about Eddie sitting here tomorrow, not knowing a damn thing.”

Eddie was the General Manager and a raging asshole. He was the reason Lloyd was our lead assistant manager due to the fact that they were brothers. 

I felt my own juices seeping onto the leather seat and grinned at the thought of Eddie sitting on the chair. 

“When is Noah coming back?” Katie asked. 

“Tomorrow afternoon,” I answered. 

She raised a suggestive brow. “Round two at your place?” 

Immediately, I stood and picked up my clothes. “I’ll meet you there.”

She laughed and got dressed as well. 

------

The next morning, I awoke to an empty bed and a text from Katie stating that she had left for work. It was around ten in the morning, and I had a couple of hours before Noah got back. 

In her hurry, Katie had left her dildo, and I shoved it deep into my dresser after cleaning it. Then I moved through the apartment and cleaned up the string of clothes Katie had pulled off of me during the night. 

By the time I finished cleaning and showering, there was a knock on the door, and I swung it open. 

Noah stood at the doorstep with Robert, his best friend’s, Dylan’s, dad. His hair was a tumble of curls, and I had a feeling that he did not brush his hair this morning. His hazel eyes lit up when he saw me, and I felt a pang at the memory of Charlotte from the night before. 

“Mom, look what I won!” Noah bounced towards me with huge goggles in his hand. 

I shoved all thoughts of Charlotte away and pulled him into a hug and picked up the goggles. “Noah, I’m not quite sure what this is.”

“They’re night vision goggles,” he said, and I handed it back to him. “You know, the ones that let you see in the dark.”

“Okay, mister sassy pants,” I said with a laugh. “You wanna head upstairs and drop off your stuff?”

Noah nodded and then turned towards Robert. "Bye, Mr. Wilson!”

Robert smiled and waved goodbye. Then he turned towards me. “He won that at the arcade yesterday. He outsmarted almost all of the machines, and I think he would have gone through all of them if we didn’t have to leave.”

I smiled sheepishly. “I did warn you.”

He shook his head with a laugh. “It’s my fault for not believing you. He is a genius.”

My chest filled with an overwhelming sense of love for my son, and I wished to hug him again. 

“How was your performance last night?” Robert asked and leaned casually against the door. 

I recognized the look in his eyes. “It was good. I had fun.”

He nodded. “Cool, cool.”

Then I rested my hand on the door knob. “Well, thank you again for taking him out yesterday and watching him.”

As if getting the hint, he pushed himself off the door frame and cleared his throat. “Yeah, of course. Anytime, really. Just give me a call.”

“Yep,” I said with a tight smile. “See you later, Robert.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Then I closed the door and leaned against it with a sigh. 

“I think he likes you.”

I whirled around. Noah stood in the hallway, fidgeting with his new goggles. “Were you listening in on my conversation with Mr. Wilson?”

At the tone of my voice, he looked up slowly and shook his head. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he made a run for the stairs. 

“Noah!” I shouted and chased after him. “Get back here!”

I barely made it to his bedroom before he was about to lock it. He jumped onto the bed and under the covers, and I hopped on top of him. 

“Gotcha!”

He laughed infectiously as I tickled him under the blanket until he came out for air. 

“Have you learned your lesson?” I asked. 

Grinning, he nodded. “Yes, mom. No listening in on adult conversations. Got it.”

I collapsed on the bed beside him and pulled him into my chest. “I missed you so much.”

“I was only gone for a day.”

The fucking mouth on this kid. Though, I knew he got his snark from me. 

Then Noah wrapped his arms around me, and I smiled. “I missed you too, mom.”

------

Later in the afternoon, I received a call from Katie. Noah was sitting in the living room, eating a sandwich while watching a cartoon. I stepped into the kitchen to pick up the call. 

“Everything is a mess,” Katie said immediately.

“What happened?”

“The company was sold to some new owners a couple of weeks ago, and they started rolling out some changes. Lloyd and Eddie just walked out, and--”

“Hold on, hold on,” I stopped her. “New owners? Lloyd and Eddie left?”

“I need you to come in.”

I glanced towards the living room and lowered my tone. “I can’t. I don’t have anyone to watch Noah.”

“Bring him to the theater. Jess, I’ve been trying to pick up the work from Eddie and Lloyd, but the theater is super packed today, and the only other manager here is Lewis and I’m pretty sure he is one step away from sealing himself off in the freezer.”

I sighed deeply. “How long do you need me to be there for?”

“Just until the crowd dies down,” she answered. “So around eleven to eleven-thirty?”

“Okay, fine,” I relented.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she exclaimed. “I owe you big time.”

“I’ll remember you said that.”

She made a promise to honor it, and I ended the call. I reentered the living room, but the TV was off and Noah was nowhere to be seen. 

I glanced around. “Noah?”

Then he came down the stairs, dressed in a hoodie and jeans. “You have to go to work, right?”

My chest twisted. “Noah, I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. I like it there. I get free popcorn and movies.”

I loved this kid so much. I pulled him into a hug. 

“It’s really okay, mom.”

“I know,” I mumbled into his shirt. “But I’m still really sorry.”

He patted my back comfortingly, and my eyes filled with tears. I didn’t deserve him. 

------

The parking lot was full when I arrived, and I had to park at a nearby store. 

When I entered the theater, I was bombarded with a lobby full of people and a mess of popcorn and tickets littering the floors. 

“That’s a lot of people,” Noah said with wide eyes. 

I guided him towards the managers’ office and knocked on the door. 

“Oh thank god, you’re here,” Katie said and pulled us into the office. “Hey, kid.”

“Hi, Katie,” Noah said and went over to examine the shelf of missing toys we had found over the years. 

Katie was on the phone with someone, and she typed rapidly on the computer at the same time. Her cheeks were flushed red, and her ponytail had loosened and fell messily around her shoulders. I had never seen her so disheveled before. 

I grabbed an available walkie and slipped it onto my belt. 

“Okay, thanks. We’ll keep an eye out for them,” Katie said and slammed the phone down. 

Then she spun around to look at me, her eyes wild. 

“Where do you need me?” I asked calmly. 

“I need you to be me.”

I raised a brow. “What?”

“You’re the lead manager as of right now.”

“Katie. I don’t even know what the fuck you do.”

“You’ll figure it out,” she said. “Deal with angry customers, help floor staff wherever they need you, pick up phone calls. You’ve seen me do it multiple times.”

She grabbed a key off the table and tossed it to me. I caught it. “Here’s the key to the office.”

“You can’t be serious,” I said. “What are you and Lewis going to do?”

“Oh, I’m dead serious. I already talked to the new COO and got it approved.” She said while grabbing a bunch of paperwork. “As of right now, I’m standing in for GM, and now Lewis and I have to go deal with a truck full of stuff that’s en route from Fields Cinema.”

“Wait, new COO?” I asked as she pulled the door open. “And what happened to Fields Cinema?”

She shot me an exasperated look. “They closed down.”

Before I could say anything else, the walkie came to life. “Can I get a manager to concessions? There is a guest with a concern.”

“That’s all you,” Katie said before rushing out. 

I turned to Noah, who looked at me sympathetically. “I can just sit in a random movie.”

“Noah, I am so--”

He held up a hand. “It’s okay, mom. I’m almost ten now.”

And despite the chaos, I smiled. “Okay. Just call me if you need anything, okay?”

He nodded. Then I turned towards the door and stepped out into the madness. 

------

When I got to concessions, Olivia looked at me with distress. “Where’s Katie?”

“She’s dealing with truck stuff,” I answered quickly. “I’m your only manager for today. What’s going on?”

She raised a brow but didn’t question it. It turned out that the customer was adamant about getting a refund for a movie he didn’t like. I was used to dealing with customers like this, and after firmly telling him there was nothing we could do, he left in a huff. 

“Sorry about that,” Olivia said and waved in the next customer in line. “He wouldn’t leave and insisted on speaking to a manager.”

“It’s all good,” I said before the walkie cracked to life again. 

The next eight hours flew by, and I was in a daze. My mind was swimming with customer complaints and endless spills all over the lobby and auditoriums. My chest burned, and my legs ached from all of the back and forth walking. 

By the time it was eleven, Katie and Lewis were still stocking stuff from the truck. It was an endless mountain of boxes that filled the entire length of a hallway, and they had only managed to get through half of the items. By then, the theater doors were locked, and the lobby had emptied out except for the remaining customers whose movies were still playing. 

While the floor staff were closing, I decided to join Katie and Lewis in counting the items and stocking them. By the time it was midnight, we only had one pallet left of stock. All of the floor staff except for the final usher had gone home, and most of the movies had ended except for one or two. 

We decided to take a brief water break, and I gulped down an entire bottle of water. My body burned. 

I pulled out my phone and gave Noah a call. Even though I had called him an hour ago, telling him I was going to be late, I still wanted to check in. 

“Hey, sweetie. How’s it going?” I asked. 

“Good,” he answered. “I’m in Miss Simmons’s office right now.”

I frowned. “Whose office?”

“Oh wait, sorry. Miss Charlotte’s office.”

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. “Noah, where are you?”

“I told you. I’m in Miss--”

“Where is that?”

“It’s in the theater,” he answered. “Near auditorium fifteen.”

The COO office. 

“Stay there,” I said numbly. “I’ll be there soon.”

I didn’t wait for his reply before I turned to Katie, who raised a questioning brow. 

“Who’s the new COO?” I asked. 

“Charlotte Simmons,” she immediately answered. “Her dad just bought--”

Then I ran in the direction of auditorium fifteen. My entire body was burning, but the shot of adrenaline propelled me forward until I arrived at the closed office door. 

And there it was. On the door, imprinted on a new sign was: ‘Chief Operating Officer. Charlotte Simmons.”

I wanted to vomit, but I held it in. As I tried to even out my breaths, I finally knocked on the door. 

There were quiet murmurs behind the door, and I tapped my foot nervously as I waited. Then the door swung open, and I inhaled sharply at the sight of her again. 

Charlotte looked just as surprised, her eyes widening before narrowing. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for my son,” I answered weakly. 

Her gaze lowered to my floor staff uniform, and she brought a hand to her mouth as everything clicked into place.

Noah poked his head out from behind her. “Mom, what’s wrong?” He brushed past Charlotte and stopped in front of me. 

Looking at him now, yesterday’s and today’s events flooded me, and I felt my eyes swelled up with tears. “It’s nothing, sweetie. I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.”

He stepped forward and took my hand. “Lets go home.”

“Yeah, of course,” I said. “Just give me a moment with Charlotte, okay? Katie and Lewis are in the lobby if you want to wait for me there?”

Noah glanced between me and Charlotte before nodding. Then he slipped his hand out of my grasp and made his way towards the lobby. I watched until he disappeared around the corner before shifting my attention to Charlotte. 

“You have a son,” she said. 

I nodded.

“He looks...” she hesitated, but I knew what she was thinking. 

“I know he does,” I immediately said. “But he’s not. I promise.”

My throat grew tight, but her face relaxed. 

“I’m sorry if you stayed behind because of him,” I said. 

“No, no. I was busy with some paperwork anyway. He was sleeping on a bench, and I offered him my couch,” she said. 

My chest twisted at the thought of Noah sleeping on the bench, and I turned away as the tears began to slip out. “Sorry, it’s getting late. I should take him home.” 

As I began to walk away, she called my name. I stopped but didn’t turn. 

“He loves you a lot, you know,” she said. “He was telling me how proud he is to have you as his mom, so don’t beat yourself up too much.”

I nodded stiffly as the tears ran steadily down my cheeks now. Then I made my way back to the lobby and gave Noah the biggest hug. 

That night, I slept with Noah in his bedroom, cradling him tightly against my chest.