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Sophie looked at the screen, running her small fingers over it.

“Daddy doesn’t know I have these. He thinks all the photos are in the cloud and that the cloud is locked. Mom showed me the password and saved it on my tablet before she went to the hospital the last time. She told me, if ever you miss me, the password is SophieSunshine, captial S, capital S, and the number of our house.”

My eyes burned as I looked at Sophie. Life could be so unfair, and allowing this little peanut to grow up without her mother was horrible.

“She told me to remember all the happy times and to forget the sad times. That’s all Dad remembers. I wish he were happy, Ember.”

I didn’t know what to say, and I was on the verge of tears anyway, so I reached over and smoothed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

“We are going to give him a fantastic Halloween,” I whispered.

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“I’m going to hide these from Daddy.”

“Okay, I will be right in.”

“Okay!” Sophie yelled as she shut the car door.

I watched as she ran inside, clutching her bag, which contained the gifts for Everett. I imagined her running up the stairs and hiding the gifts in her room. I cut the engine but stayed in the car, watching the sun go down. I grabbed my purse and pulled out my phone, dialing my mother’s number.

“Hey, baby,” she said, her voice warm.

“Hey Mom, how are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Mrs. Jenner from downstairs brought me some soup for dinner.”

“Are you sure everything is okay?” I questioned, worried that maybe she wasn’t feeling well.

“Yes darling. She made extra and thought I might like some.”

“Oh, well, that was nice. Hope it was good.”

“It was, you know how I love homemade soup.”

I smiled to myself. “I do. Did you take your medication today?”

“Yes, Ember. I took it and I ate my breakfast, in case you want to know. I even did my exercises.”

“Sounds like you need a couple of gold stars.” I joked.

My mother laughed. It was a sound I loved hearing because some days she barely had the energy to talk. Then she coughed, only once, but it sounded like a cough I may need to be concerned about. I gripped the steering wheel, hoping that she wasn’t coming down with her usual fall cold. Last year, it almost killed her.

“Mom…”

“Honey, please. I’m fine. I know what you are thinking, but I promise you I am feeling fine. Now tell me all about this new job. Is the little girl as sweet as they told you?”

I told her all about Sophie and our shopping adventure today.

“What about her father?”

I really didn’t want to talk about Everett, but I knew she’d question it if I didn’t answer her.

“He’s a professional business executive, Mom. He spends most of his time behind his desk, so I don’t really have a lot of interaction with him.”

“I see. Did the payment from your publisher come in?” She asked.