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I tried to re but couldn’t pinpoint any exact date and time We’d both been excited to move back here; I’ve always loved this place and had told Lauren about it lots of ti those stories

Soh , having been orphaned at a very young age, and growing up in the foster care system, it was easy to understand why she was so fascinated by rown up in?

And why a about this now? What’s the point? I asked , trying to figure out rong in ht this on I answered

I looked out the caras hts a conflicted mess I recalled what Jenny had said the last ti sick Could she have been right?

Surely not, I would’ve noticed so before noouldn’t I? She couldn’t have kept so like that hidden for all these years, could she? My blood ran cold with the thought Had I been so neglectful that I hadn’t noticedin my chest

I’ve never seenI ay too hands-on, especially after the girls were born Our sex life was fine, our finances were better than ever, and we lived in a great hohborhood, as there not to be happy and relaxed about?

True ere still young by today’s standards,with parties every weekend and get-togethers with friends while ere stuck at hoht that that’s what she’d wanted In fact, I’d been pretty sure that she’d purposely not taken the pill to bring that about

And though I’d been scared shitless when I first found out she was pregnant, not for one minute was I ever unhappy with the news As I said, I’d already sowed all the wild oats I intended to But maybe she hadn’t? Is that it? Was it all too much for her? Then why didn’t she just tell me?

We pulled into the driveway, and listening in the sun on the hot asphalt I relived the ain and felt my body jerk What would she have done had I not been there, had Jenny not been there?

The sight of her standing over the crib with that knife in her hand will haunt me for the rest of my life And Jenny, what if she’d hurt her? I saw her the way she was as a kid following rown into, and the thought of her being hurt because ofto take out and look at more closely later

Noondered what she’d been doing here What had h of relief the first tiht for sure with her out of the picture; things would’ve settled down and gone back to normal

Though I had moments where she’d just flit into irls had seemed to like her They were much calmer when she was around I’d noticed I think she talked more to them than to anyone else come to think of it

The few times she’d been over to babysit without incident, I hadn’t noticed anything about her other than the fact that she was still so quiet, so et that she was in the house

There was never any flirtation, no whimsical smiles, and she certainly didn’t dress to catch my attention In fact, I think she went out of her way, sensing Lauren’s irrational jealousy, to appear as non-threatening as she possibly could

And apart froeous, I never letour past interactions fro if she could really still have those feelings for me

In o She wasn’t the first girl to have a crush on h, and she hadn’t been the last Though I’d settled down so a dad, woravitate towards me