CHAPTER 42
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2010
Emma says, “Mommy, I don’t want to go home.”
Helen sighs. She’s just picked Emma up from daycare after a long day at the DMV. She went without lunch because one of her coworkers is out sick and there was no one to cover for her. All she wants to do now is go home and put her feet up before she has to make dinner and give Emma her bath. But she doesn’t let Emma see that she’s tired and worn out. Instead, she glances in the rearview and smiles at her daughter.
“Where do you want to go?” she says.
“I want to go to the playground!”
“The playground?” Helen says with mock-surprise. “Really?”
“Yes!”
“What are we gonna do at the playground?”
“You’re gonna push me on the swings!”
“I am?”
“Yes! ‘cause that’s what mommies do.”
“Okay then, I guess we have
