This is an original short story. Names, characters, and events are fictional.
I’m Karen, 32. My husband Ben is 34. Our daughter Melissa is three, which means she has opinions and a volume setting that doesn’t work.
A month after Melissa was born, I went back to work. Not because I wanted to. Because bills don’t care. This spring, Ben got laid off. He acted calm. “It’s temporary. I’ve got Melissa during the day. You focus on work.” And I believed him. Ben’s always been a good dad. Present, patient, the kind who can do bedtime without calling me like tech support.
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