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“Why don’t you have any kids?” Brinley asked.

Fallon tensed instantly. “I didn’t want kids.”

“What?” Brinley squinted at her.

“I didn’t want kids, not kids of my own anyway.”

“Why?”

Fallon cringed. This was not a conversation she wanted to have with an inquisitive nine-year-old. Sighing, she tried to think of the best and easiest way to explain it, and then she gave up. “Not everyone wants the same things in life, and I didn’t want to have a baby of my own.”

“But if you married someone who had a kid? Would you want them then?”

“I don’t plan on getting married.” Fallon stood up and stretched again, more uncomfortable than ever with this line of questioning.

“What? Why?”

“Not everyone wants to get married.”

“Just like not everyone wants kids,” Brinley surmised.

“Exactly. We should probably go check on your mom.” Fallon glanced toward the door, but she didn’t move toward it. Shewasn’t sure what she’d be walking into when she went out there, and she was already thrown off enough by what had happened so far. She didn’t have any more answers than she’d arrived with. In fact, everything she’d suspected from the moment she’d left her apartment had been true. Savannah was hurting, and she was scared. Brinley had been worried, which was why she’d texted.

“Mom doesn’t want to talk.”

“I didn’t say she had to talk.” Fallon held her hand out for Brinley, hoping that she’d take it so Fallon could lead her out of the room they’d been confined in for hours. “I said let’s check on her.”

“Fallon…” Brinley looked nervous. She couldn’t raise her gaze to meet Fallon’s, and she stared at her toes. “Will you help me surprise my mom?”

“Surprise her?”

“For Mother’s Day.”

Fallon’s shoulders ached from the tension in them. She’d forgotten that was in a few weeks. She hadn’t celebrated since she was a kid, and she hated every moment at school when they’d do something for their mothers. It had gotten to the point that Tia had come down to the school year after year to yell at them and finally forced enough of an argument that Fallon had been removed from class during those activities.

“W-what did you have in mind?” Fallon’s heart fluttered hard. She couldn’t do this. It would be too hard. It wasn’t that Savannah didn’t deserve it, it was that Fallon couldn’t bethatkind of support for her.

“Will you help me cook her dinner? A fancy dinner,” Brinley added.

“Fancy?” Fallon nearly choked.

“Yeah, so she doesn’t have to do anything that night.” Excitement poured off Brinley now, her energy returning to thatof a normal kid. “I want to clean the whole house for her and cook her dinner.”

“All right.” Fallon blew out a breath. “I think I can help with that.”

But she really didn’t. Still, the way Brinley was looking at her, Fallon was going to have a really hard time telling her no.

“Thank you!” Brinley was back to hugging her.

Fallon finally extricated herself from Brinley’s grasp and made her way back to the living room. Savannah was staring at the screen in a daze with an empty bowl of ice cream on the table.

“I did my homework!” Brinley shouted excitedly as she came into the room and launched herself on top of Savannah for a hug.

“Good job, baby.” Savannah looked at Fallon.

“She did great,” Fallon added. She glanced at her watch and checked the time. “I should probably be leaving.”

“Do you have to?” Brinley whined.