Chapter 6 — Longer Than Planned

I stood there holding her far longer than I had planned to.

I had come, I told myself, to look, to assess, to make an informed and adult decision about whether and how I might help.

But it is difficult to assess a person who is holding your collar and looking into your face, and the longer I stood there, the more completely the whole careful framework of assessment fell away, until there was nothing left but a man and a child and the small warm weight of her against his chest.

She did not fuss.