The only job Eve could find with her bachelor’s degree was at the Cartwright House, the same residential halfway house where she’d worked while in school. Her new job had a different title and more hours, but she was discouraged that she barely made enough to pay their rent. If it were not for Jack’s family, they wouldn’t be able to get by. Still, she liked working with the teenagers. She saw her younger self in so many of them. They operated on emotion and impulse as they pushed toward adulthood with bodies ready for the challenge but brains lagging far behind. Watching and listening to them, she knew how far she’d come in six years. Thank God for second chances.
Cory, though, was her everyday reminder of her own impulsive decisions. She tried hard to be a good mother. People said she was; they complimented her all the time on how she put her own needs second to those of her daughter. Still, Cory was so clingy and insecure. Somehow, Eve was failing her. When Mrs. Rice called to ask her and Jack to come in for a meeting, she knew she was going to come face-to-face with that failure.
“She’s the prettiest little string bean, isn’t she?” Mrs. Rice said, once Eve and Jack were seated across the desk from her in the kindergarten classroom.
Eve nodded. “Thank you.” She clutched Jack’s hand on her knee.
“And she’s smart. She’s doing very well in all our lessons. She’s well behaved and never makes an ounce of trouble. She’s the kind of student it would be easy to ignore since she doesn’t make waves, but I don’t want to ignore her, because she deserves better.”
“What are you getting at?” Jack asked.
“She’s not doing well socially,” Mrs. Rice said. “The little boys all treat her like a princess. They’re gaga over her. About five of them consider her their girlfriend.” She chuckled. “Even at five, they’re into good looks. But she’s made no real friends among the girls because she’s so shy. She’s afraid to do things the other children do, like climbing on the jungle gym, for instance. One of the other girls will try to persuade her to climb with them, but Cory stands on the ground and shakes her head. Eventually, the girls give up on her.”
Eve licked her lips. “She’s afraid of a lot of things right now, but I think she’ll outgrow it.”
“You might be right,” Mrs. Rice said. “I just wanted to let you know what I’m observing, because often a child will be just fine at home and you’d never know this is going on.”
“What can we do?” Jack asked.
“Build her self-confidence,” Mrs. Rice said. “Give her things to do that she can excel at. She is going to be a phenomenal reader. I can tell you’ve done a great deal of reading with her.”
“Yes,” Eve said, relieved that she’d done something right. “I’ve read to her since she was tiny.”
“And it shows. So that’s something I make sure to reward her for. I’ve put her in charge of handing out the little books we use.”
Eve smiled at the thought of Cory being in charge of anything at all. “I don’t think I’ve done that with her enough,” she said to Jack. “You know. Had her take responsibility for things.”
He nodded. “We can let her decide what we do on Saturdays. Give her some choices and let her pick.”
“That’s the idea,” Mrs. Rice said.
“Yikes,” Jack said when they’d left the school and started walking home in the crisp darkness. “That’s the tallest woman I’ve ever seen. I felt like a shrimp next to her. She must tower over her students.”
“She does. I told you how scared Cory was of her at first, but she seems to like her now.”
“You know, though, she has a point,” Jack said. “You don’t like her to ride her bike because you’re nervous about the traffic—even though she’s riding on the sidewalk. You’re afraid she’ll fall. The other day when she was afraid of the dinosaur skeleton at the museum, you took her out of the room, like you were verifying for her that she was right to be afraid of it.”
Cory had been screaming and cowering and creating a scene. “I didn’t think it was fair to everyone else in the museum to be subjected to her screams.” Eve felt defensive.
Jack hesitated before speaking again. “I worry, though, that she picks up on your fears about her.”
Eve felt a flash of anger. She’d been parenting Cory for six years. Jack had known her for only two. She bit her tongue, though, because she knew he was right.
“You know what I think would help Cory a lot?” Jack asked.
“What?”
“Having a brother or sister to boss around.”
Eve laughed, and she wondered if he heard the anxiety in the sound. She longed to have a baby with him. She longed to see how his features would blend with hers. She loved the way he lit up around Cory and wanted to see that joy doubled in him. But having a baby could only force her to tell more lies. Any doctor would know she’d never been pregnant before. How would she keep that fact from Jack?
“We’re poor people, Jack,” she said. “We’re way below the poverty line. It would be irresponsible for us to have a baby right now.”
“Cory’s nearly six years old,” he said. “If we wait ’til we’re rich, she’ll be old enough to raise the kid on her own.” He stopped walking and turned her toward him. “You know my parents aren’t going to let us starve,” he said. “They’ll help us out as long as I’m in school.” He kissed her. “So, let’s go home and throw away your pills.”