I nearly dialed 911 on the tattooed teenager holding a screaming baby inside an empty 1 AM laundromat. Then his bag tore open, and my stomach sank with utter shame.

morning with Emma, a backpack, two emergency snacks, a change of clothes, a written schedule, and the expression of a man sending his heart out into traffic.

“She’ll be fine,” I said.

He nodded too quickly.

“I know.”

“You don’t know.”

“No.”

“You’re doing it anyway.”

He looked at Emma.

She was trying to put sunglasses on her stuffed rabbit.

“Yeah,” he said. continue reading …