Chapter 12 - The Calls That Never Reached Me

“I didn’t.”

There was a long silence.

Then Ruth said, “Rebecca told me you needed distance.”

I sat on the stairs.

Hannah’s mother had been quieter lately.

Fewer visits.

Shorter calls.

Rebecca had said Ruth resented seeing me move on.

I had believed that too.

“She said seeing me upset Emily,” Ruth continued.

“That I talked about Hannah too much.”

“What did you say?”

“I tried calling you.”

I opened my call history.

Nothing.

Then I checked the blocked numbers.

Ruth.

Hannah’s sister, Claire.

A number belonging to Emily’s old grief counselor.

Rebecca had helped set up my new phone in February.

One favor.

A handful of invisible doors closed.

“I thought you wanted us gone,” Ruth whispered.

“No.”

“Emily called me from the house phone once.

Rebecca took it away before she finished.”

My hand tightened around the railing.

“What did she say?”

“She asked if I still had a room for her.”

I shut my eyes.

By evening, Ruth and Claire were at Luke’s house.

Emily saw them through the front window.

“Grandma?”

Ruth barely made it through the door before Emily hit her knees.

They held each other on the entryway floor.

Claire turned toward the wall and cried.

Later, while Emily helped Luke make grilled cheese, Ruth placed a small cloth bag in front of me.

“Hannah’s sweater,” she said.

I looked up.

“Rebecca sent it to me last month.

She said Emily didn’t want it anymore.”

I pulled the soft blue fabric from the bag.

There was a tiny snag near the cuff.

Hannah had caught it on a stroller buckle.

I remembered because I had been there.

When I gave the sweater to Emily, she pressed it to her face.

For a long time, she said nothing.

Then she looked at me.

“Can I keep loving Mommy if you love somebody else?”

I sat beside her.

“You never have to stop loving her.”

“Rebecca said there wasn’t room.”

“There is.”

“How much?”

“As much as you need.”

My phone vibrated.

A message from Carol.

I found the full transport instructions.

There was a second pickup option.

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