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****
I arrived at Chloe's school using an Uber; she was waiting alongside the teacher. Ben had already introduced me to the lady to make picking Chloe up easier. After four days, I was seeing less of my Sophia and more of Chloe.
There were moments I would call her Sophia, and she'd ask me who that was. I needed to find a way to stop calling her that. I always reminded myself that she was a different being. Aside that, it felt like I had become a mother of some sort.
"Miss Olivia, is Daddy coming home today?" she asked as we got into the car and started heading home.
"He better come home," I replied.
Chloe seemed sad. She was just staring out the window.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Chloe, you can talk to me," I said. “Tell me what's wrong."
"Today James and his mom come pick him up. He asked me where my mom was," she replied.
I winced.
"I'm sorry he said that," I said. "He didn't mean any harm."
"I know. But it's still hurting me," she said in a broken voice.
I understood her pain. I remember after Sophia died, not a lot of people knew that she was no longer with us.
So they'd come up and ask, “Is your baby okay?"
Or that time after my father died while I was getting ready to attend the school of nursing.
"You don't have to worry," I assured her and stroked her hair. "At least you still have dad."
"And you," she added as she turned to look at me.
"And me," I added.
It looked like Ben was right; if I had agreed to return to the hotel that Ethan had reserved, it would have hurt Chloe.
"What would you love for dinner?" I asked.
"I don't know," she replied, "I'll love whatever you make for dinner, Miss Olivia."
"An open floor, huh?" I raised a brow. "Alright, I'll think of something."
****
Dinner was almost ready. I hadn't cooked rice in a while, but I found some in Ben's pantry so I figured, why not? And I made some fried rice.
"Something smells good," Ben announced as he arrived.
"Chloe, your dad's home," I called out.
She was upstairs, trying to read through her books.
"Did something happen?" he asked as she didn't respond.
"You might want to ask her directly," I suggested.
