Chapter 15 - The Anniversary
One year after Sophie returned, Noah woke early.
He made breakfast.
Technically, he destroyed breakfast.
Flour covered the kitchen.
One pancake was stuck to the ceiling.
Daniel stared upward.
“How?”
Noah shrugged.
Sophie laughed so hard she cried.
“What are we celebrating?” Daniel asked.
Noah looked offended.
“Mommy Coming Back Day.”
Sophie stopped laughing.
Noah placed a handmade card in front of her.
Three stick figures stood outside a red building.
Above them he had written:
WE FOUND YOU.
Sophie pressed the card to her chest.
Daniel watched her.
A year earlier, she had sat outside Miller’s Diner believing she had lost everything.
Now their son was complaining because Daniel had stolen the least-burned pancake.
Life wasn’t perfect.
But it was ordinary.
And ordinary had become precious.
Later, Sophie took Noah to school.
Before he entered, he turned around.
“You’ll be here after school?”
Sophie smiled.
“Yes.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Noah ran inside.
Sophie stood there after the door closed.
A year earlier, she wouldn’t have trusted herself to make that promise.
May you like
Now she did.
And she intended to keep it.
