PART 14

Around that time Tessa visited for a long weekend.

She brought homemade muffins and a secondhand double stroller with wheels that could handle uneven sidewalks.

“I know you said no gifts,” she told me, “so consider it an extremely large loan with no due date.”

We took the girls to the botanical gardens.

Watching Tessa make ridiculous faces at them, I remembered the college version of myself who had taken trips without planning every diaper and bottle.

I missed her.