Chapter 110

• Eloise – First Person POV
• I had been up since dawn, my nerves buzzing like a kettle left too long on the stove. The sunlight spilled in warm sheets across my bedroom floor, pooling over the neatly folded navy-blue dress I’d chosen for today. I stared at it for a moment, smiling to myself. My baby was graduating from elementary school. My baby—Max—who used to cry when his shoelaces tangled, who once clung to my hip in the middle of a grocery store because the freezer section was “too cold,” was now tall enough to grab the cereal off the top shelf without a stool.
• I slipped into the dress, smoothed my hair, and caught my reflection in the mirror. The faint lines around my eyes didn’t bother me today. They were proof of every laugh, every sleepless night, every tear.