Chapter 4
Eddie's alarm always seemed to go off a few minutes before mine.
He was already up, washed, and dressed.
I was gone most nights, so he'd gotten used to looking after himself.
Eddie's school wasn't exactly close—four subway stops from our place.
It was the best I could do for him.
There weren't any good schools near the place Eric's family gave me, and Eddie was getting to the age where he needed to start school.
If I wanted him somewhere decent, I'd need to get us into a school district.
Back then, I'd landed a receptionist job at Victor's company.
Mom kept getting sick, so I was constantly asking for time off. My monthly salary was supposed to be a thousand, but after deductions, I barely took home five hundred.
HR suggested I resign, and I couldn't really blame them.
If I were the boss, I wouldn't want someone who was always taking time off either.
And that paycheck couldn't even cover the basics.
But I couldn't find anything else. Every job I knew about just wouldn't let me leave whenever I needed to take Mom to the hospital.
I spent nights awake writing web novels and streaming.
Maybe I just didn't have the talent—never got a full attendance bonus, never broke a hundred viewers.
Eventually, I vented to Victor about how bad things were. The way he looked at me at work—I could see it in his eyes.
When Victor said he wanted to keep me, I agreed without hesitation.
He didn't have tons of money, but he could get Eddie into a good school, help Mom find the right doctors, and he understood what I was dealing with.
That was enough.
Eddie walked ahead of me, his backpack bouncing on his shoulders.
After we got off the subway, he'd always pull his hand away, muttering that his classmates would laugh at him if they saw.
But when it was just us, he'd grab onto my hand and refuse to let go.
I promised Eddie fried chicken for dinner, then headed home to cram vocabulary.
An adult education diploma was basically worthless in the real world, but at least it qualified you for grad school applications.
I didn't want much—just a steady job with insurance, somewhere they wouldn't fire me for taking a few sick days.
But those jobs all required passing exams, and to take those exams, you needed a degree. So I had to get into grad school.
Sure, people would say I was making excuses. They'd tell me to do food delivery or courier work and make three grand a month.
But the hours were brutal, and I had to think long-term.
I was only 28. At 38, would I even be able to keep running around like that?
By then, no one would keep me anyway.
Who was going to take care of my mom? And what about Eddie?
Before I could even head out to pick up Eddie, the hospital called.
I was already running out the door when I called Victor. "Victor, the hospital just called. Something happened to Mom. Can you please pick up Eddie?"
"Don't rush. Drive safe," he said.
He was a good guy, just like Eric.
By the time I got to the hospital, Mom was already out of danger.
"She had a reaction to the dialysis fluid, but we pulled her through," the doctor said, trying to comfort me.
I just nodded, not even feeling rattled anymore.
This had happened so many times over the years.
Mom woke up, and for the first time in ages, she was gentle. Her warm hand softly touched my head.
"Olivia, be good and finish your homework. No TV, okay? Your dad and I are both working tonight, so make sure you lock the door."
Her memory was scrambled, stuck somewhere in the past. Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face.
Mom had only seen Eddie once, when he was really little.