Michelle nodded, looking at her hands.
“I miss you, Mom.”
Those four words nearly undid me.
“I miss you, too, honey.”
“Sadie keeps asking when you’re coming home.”
“This is my home now.”
“I know.” Her voice broke. “I meant when you’re coming to our house.”
I pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.
“Then ask me to visit. Ask me to have supper with you. Ask me to pick the children up from daycare if I can. Ask me to spend Saturday with them. I will tell you what I can do.”
I paused.
“But don’t make my place in your family depend on how useful I am.”
Michelle reached across the table and took my hand.
“I don’t want that.”
“Then don’t do it again.”
She squeezed my fingers.
“I won’t.”
Todd opened the legal pad. I expected to see another calculation, another set of numbers explaining why everything had been necessary.
