"I did an okay job."
"No," he said. "You did a good job. Don't let her tell you different."
I turned away so he wouldn't see my eyes fill.
"Grab your backpack," I said. "You'll be late too."
He disappeared down the hall, and I stood there in the quiet kitchen, breathing in the strange peace of a life I had somehow managed to build.
I didn't know then that he'd been keeping something from me for months.
"You did a good job."
I thought we had finally found stability.
But our aunt arrived for his birthday dinner with a completely different plan for our future.
The doorbell rang just as I finished lighting the candles on the cake.
Lucas glanced at me from across the room, his jaw tightening in a way I had learned to recognize over the years.
We both knew who it was before I even opened the door.
