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But there was a wide gray area between not the truth and an actual lie. That was where Annie lived.

She snugged the baby a little closer.

“I had to go somewhere for work,” she said. “I caught a ride with this guy who wanted it to be, like…a real date, I guess. It was weird and uncomfortable. We both knew I was getting paid to be there.”

Helen sipped her wine, holding the liquid in her mouth for a moment before swallowing. “Have you thought about changing jobs?”

“It isn’t…” Annie hesitated. “It’s not that easy.”

“I didn’t even know you were working.”

Annie said nothing.

“Tell you what. Why don’t you go put Zach in his crib and come back down? I made brownies, and there’s still half a pan left.”

Annie had never put a baby to bed before, not even her niece, and she wasn’t sure she had ever carried a baby up a flight of stairs before either. The most time she’d spent with someone else’s small child had been in Minsk, and that… She tried not to think of that little girl anymore.

Zach was heavy in her arms, but she made it up the stairs and down the hall. The kids were asleep, their doors open. Kevin had a night-light in his room, but Ashley’s room was dark. Helen’sroom was lit with a lamp on the nightstand, and the baby monitor glowed red next to it.

She was terrified of waking him up when she laid him down in the crib, but he slept through it, the blanket wrapped tightly around him like an all-night hug. Like he was sleeping in someone’s arms.

She shut off the light on her way out and went downstairs.

A glass of water and a brownie sat on the coffee table, though Helen was in the recliner, looking as if she hadn’t moved at all.

“You did eat dinner, correct?” Helen asked. “With your work companion?”

“Yeah.”

“And the baby is okay?”

“He didn’t wake up.” Annie picked up the fork and cut into a corner of the brownie.

“His social worker is coming in the morning,” Helen said. “Are you around?”

“I don’t have class until the afternoon,” she said, “but I can make myself scarce.”

“I meant that I would like for you to meet her. I told her I took on a tenant.”

“Oh.” She put the bite of brownie into her mouth and let the sweetness spread on her tongue.

“They like to meet the people who are around the baby,” Helen said. “So if it’s convenient for you…”

“It’s no problem.”

“I told her you were one of my students,” Helen confessed. “I didn’t mean it as a lie.”

“I’m a student in your department. I don’t feel like that was a lie.”

“I didn’t tell her you worked because I didn’t know.” Helen sipped her wine again.

“No one has to know,” Annie assured her. “Anyway, I’m mostly just a student. Almost all the way just a student.”

Helen smiled. “Okay.”

“This brownie is really good,” Annie said. “Thank you.”

“Oh, honey. You are so welcome.”