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I bit my lip, smiling at the screen.

Farrah: I will.

The door opened, and Cora came shuffling up, holding up a teddy bear almost bigger than her. It was so heavy she had to pop her hip out and lean back to keep it off the floor. Andrew sulked behind her holding a baseball glove and bat. Behind him, Levi and Caleb walked beside each other, Levi holding the brand-new mitt I’d been saving for.

“Did you guys go shopping?” I asked.

Caleb nodded, and I noted the frown on Andrew's face.

“I didn't know you liked baseball,” I said to him.

“I don't,” he muttered, walking past me and going to his bedroom.

Confused, I looked at Caleb for an explanation.

He rolled his eyes. “Drew wanted fingernail polish. But I told him he should get something that we could do together.”

“And you can't do fingernail polish together?” I asked, feeling Cora and Levi’s eyes on me.

“Not if I don't want him to get picked on at school. You already said he’s having a hard time making friends.”

I fought to keep my voice even, knowing our kids were listening. “If the kids are picking on him for wearing fingernail polish, it'stheirproblem, not Andrew’s. He should have gotten what he wanted.”

He folded his arms over his chest, towering over me where I sat at the dining room table. “Great way to welcome me to your new place. Complain at me for doing something nice for your kid.”

“Our kid,” I corrected.

“Oh, now he’s mine,” Caleb muttered, stepping past me to look at the kitchen. “This is a pretty big place. Rent must be sky high.”

Levi said, “It's not as big as the house back home, but it's comfortable.”

The pain in my chest just increased.

Cora said, “Come see my room, Daddy. I'll put Prince Charlie by the rest of my bears.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” Caleb said, holding her hand and letting her drag him back to her room.

I followed them, wanting to keep an ear on what he said about the place. He looked around her room silently as she placed the teddy bear by the rest of her stuffed animals. He said, “This is a room fit for a princess.”

She spun happily, her skirt flying around her.

“Let me see your room, Levi,” he said.

We followed Levi farther down the hall to his room. And once again, Caleb was quiet at first.

Levi said, “Mom got me this really nice dresser and a desk for me to do my homework , but I always end up doing it at the table. Most nights anyway.”

Caleb ran his hand over the black desktop. “You found all this at a thrift store, Farrah?”

“No,” I replied. And I hated the way his tone implied secondhand furniture was somehow less. Like it was all I could get. “I ordered it online.”

Levi chimed in, “It was like better than Christmas when we first moved in. There were a million boxes coming in all the time. I put the TV stand together by myself.”

I grinned, loving the pride in his voice and that he said something positive about the move because we really didn't talk all that much and it was hard to gauge how he felt. I wished he would say more to me.

Without complimenting, or even commenting on, Levi’s space, Caleb said, “Well, let's see Andrew’s room... although he's mad at me. I'm kind of regretting the bat right now.” He guffawed.

I didn't find the joke funny at all. Andrew had missed his dad for months, and then Caleb basically dismissed him and his interests. We walked to Andrew’s room, his door covered in drawings. A new one was up on the door, portraying a hastily scribbled skull and crossbones with the words KEEP OUT.