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Looking back, that should have been my first warning.
I straightened the couch, put the kettle on, and prepared for the children. Being the reliable one was a role I had carried for as long as I could remember. I had been doing it since I was nine years old, when I first started sneaking Ruth’s forgotten homework into her backpack so she wouldn’t get into trouble.
Twenty minutes later, Ruth arrived with the children.
But she didn’t come inside.
“Hi, Aunt Alice,” my seven-year-old niece, Aby, said quietly. She was clutching a purple backpack against her chest as though it were a shield.
Her four-year-old brother, Arthur, seemed completely unaware that anything was unusual. He wrapped his arms around my leg and immediately asked, “Aunt Alice, do you have juice?”
“I do, buddy. Go find the couch.”
He happily rushed inside.
Aby, however, remained on the porch, watching her mother.
I finally took a proper look at Ruth.
She was wearing more makeup than usual, and beneath it, her eyes were red and swollen. She had brought one backpack for both children.
One.
“Just an hour?” I asked.
“Maybe a little longer. I’ll text you.”
“Ruth, is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.”
She refused to meet my eyes.
“You know how it is.”
I did know how it was.
That was precisely the problem.
Ruth knelt in front of Aby and pulled her into a hug. It lasted several seconds longer than an ordinary goodbye. I noticed her lips moving close to my niece’s ear, although I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
Aby gave a tiny nod.
“Be a good girl for Aunt Alice, okay?” Ruth whispered.
“Okay, Mommy.”
My sister stood up and brushed something invisible from her jeans.
“Thank you, Alice. Really.”
“Why don’t you come inside for a minute? I’ve just made coffee.”
“I can’t. I’ll be back before you know it.”
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She turned and hurried toward her car, already holding her keys.
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I stood in the doorway with Aby beside me, watching as Ruth pulled out of the parking space.
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She never looked back.
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“Come on, kiddo,” I said gently, guiding Aby inside. “Let’s get you settled.”
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She glanced up at me with an expression I couldn’t understand, then followed her little brother toward the couch without saying another word.
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I closed the door behind us, completely unaware that I had just watched my sister disappear from our lives for the next 11 days.
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One hour passed.
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Then two.
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Then five.
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By the time the streetlights outside my window flickered on, I had called Ruth 11 times.
