The Moment You Have Memorised
He falls off the step and the cry goes up and he turns, not toward you, standing three feet closer, but toward her. The nanny, the grandmother, the mother-in-law, the au pair. Whoever she is in your house, she is the one he wants in that first unthinking second. You have watched this enough times to have a face ready for it. A neutral face. A face that says you are glad he has someone safe to run to, because you are, genuinely, glad. And still.
