The Way He Looked at Me
“I’m a three-person, Daddy… I’m a three-person.”
I hold him against me, forehead against his, feeling the echo of his pain ricochet through my own chest. I whisper to myself, over and over, a mantra that barely makes sense but feels true: I’m a three-person too. I’m a three-person too.
By the time I set him down, I’m trembling from head to toe. My chest aches like I’ve been punched, my knees weak, my hands shaking. There’s no guidebook for this. No training. No one warned me that heartbreak could be contagious like this.