Page 46 of Chasing The Goal

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I'll always have your back

The apartment was quiet when I got home. Still warm from the afternoon sun that filtered through the windows, but too still. Ava’s car was already gone, her laughter echoing faintly in the air she left behind.

I kicked off my shoes and stood in the middle of the living room. My living room. My kitchen. My everything—all within a ten-foot radius. Where was I going to put acrib? A changing table? Where would the baby sleep once they started crawling, moving, becoming?

The couch was old but functional. The corner near the window might fit a bassinet. I paced from the hallway to the bedroom and back, then paused in the doorway, staring at the room that had always felt just big enough for me. Me, and the occasional mistake I let stay too long.

There was no closet space. No second bedroom. No soft place for a baby to land.

For the first year, maybe, we could make it work. Swaddles and rocking chairs and midnight feedings. But after that?

I opened my Notes app and made a new list:

Crib

Diapers

Start saving

then I crossed it off and wrote

Start saving more

I already had some savings it was not nearly enough, and last but not least…

Find a bigger place

Money. That was the next mountain. I had savings, but not enough for a moveanda baby. Not without planning. Not without help. Not without risking everything I’d worked so hard for.

My fingers hovered over my phone, then opened a new message.

Hi Eliza, can we meet tomorrow morning? There’s something I need to talk to you about.

Eliza Tucker

Of course. My office 9 am

My heart thudded like a warning bell.

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