One rested inside a cloth carrier across her chest.
The other was secured against her side.
I stared.
One of them opened his eyes.
Even from several yards away, something about his face hit me.
The forehead.
The narrow chin.
A tiny crease beside his mouth.
I had seen those features before.
In childhood photographs of myself.
I leaned toward the windshield.
“No.”
Beside me—
Vanessa laughed.
Not awkwardly.
Not nervously.
She laughed because she found the scene amusing.
“Well.”
She lowered her window.
“Looks like life caught up with someone.”
Claire turned.
Her eyes found mine.
For one terrible second—
the entire world narrowed to that look.
She wasn’t shocked.
She wasn’t angry.
She simply looked exhausted.
Somehow, that hurt more.
“CLAIRE!”
Vanessa called her name before I could stop her.
I turned sharply.
“Vanessa.”
She ignored me.
“Wow. I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Claire said nothing.
At her feet sat a clear bag stuffed with crushed bottles and cans.
Vanessa glanced at it.
“Recycling now?”
“Enough.”
She looked at me.
“What? I’m just being friendly.”
Then Vanessa opened her handbag.
Pulled out a fifty-dollar bill.
“Don’t.”
She smiled.
“Relax.”
Before I could stop her, she crumpled it and tossed it through the open window.
The bill landed in the dirt near Claire’s shoes.
“For diapers.”
Vanessa grinned.
“Or formula. Whatever.”
Claire stared at the money.
