Jaclyn stood in the doorway with her arms folded tight across her chest.

“Clay pays half the mortgage on this house every month,” Jaclyn said.

“Clay works twelve-hour shifts on an oil rig two thousand miles from here,” I said.

I went into my own bedroom next door to get a clean pair of socks for Benji.

On my nightstand stood the framed dinosaur picture Benji had drawn in green crayon back in September.

I straightened the wooden frame so it sat square against the base of the lamp, then went back into the hall.