CHAPTER 6

  “He’s out,” I said with a sigh as I closed the door to my bedroom and strode back to the living room. It had taken me a while to realize it, but the best cure for anxiety and heavy thoughts was having a tiny ball of endless energy snuggled against you and playing with your hair.

  After I had got home from campus, Chris and Elijah were in the middle of making dinner. We had eaten while I listened to Elijah rave about everything that happened in kindergarten, speaking with so much excitement, that I felt my heart break a little at the idea of telling him we have to move away. Again.

  I had spent the entire evening playing cards and games with him, watching the kid’s channel and snuggling into his warm, soft skin, to the point where he told me I was smothering him. Chris had watched us silently as if he knew something was up, but unlike this morning, he didn’t say anything.