Claire watched the black SUV pull away from the curb, merging smoothly into traffic, disappearing around the corner of the medical building within seconds — as though the last nine months, the entire relationship, the daughter now sleeping fitfully against her chest, had simply been a minor inconvenience now successfully resolved.
She stood alone on the sidewalk for a long moment, the late afternoon sun doing little to warm the sudden, hollow cold spreading through her chest. Sophia stirred against her, small fists curling instinctively into the thin fabric of her hospital gown, entirely unaware of the abandonment that had just unfolded around her in her first days of life.
Claire's tears came freely now, silent at first, then building into full, shaking sobs as the reality of her situation pressed in from every direction — no ride, no money beyond what Marcus had just handed her, a newborn daughter depending entirely on her, and an apartment lease that, she remembered with fresh dread, was actually in Marcus's name.
She fumbled for her phone with one hand, holding Sophia securely with the other, scrolling through her contacts until she reached the one name she'd been too proud, too determined to prove her own independence, to call throughout this entire pregnancy.
The phone rang twice before connecting.