Free The Plan by Kelly Bennett Seiler Page B

nightmare.
    Torture.
    A man who loses his wife is a called a widower and a woman who loses her husband is now a widow. But what is someone who loses a child called?
    There was no name for that.
    And if there was no name for that, there was certainly no word for someone who’d lost everyone.
    She no longer had an identity. She wasn’t a wife. She was no longera mom. She’d stopped being a daughter years earlier. There wasn’t anything to call her. She wasn’t anything to anybody.
    Claire had always found her identity in those she loved. She loved being Jack’s wife. Mrs. Matthews. She used to beam when the other kids at her children’s school would call out, “Hi, Ella’s mom!” Or Luke’s or Lily’s.
    She used to be proud to be her parents’ daughter.
    But now she belonged to no one.
    That was insufferable. She wouldn’t live like that.
    She couldn’t.
    Her babies needed her. Jack was missing her.
    She needed to be with them again.
    Claire turned and left the room, pulling the door closed behind her. There’d be no more nights alone. She wanted to be with her family. Needed to be with them. Why couldn’t other people see that?
    She should’ve gotten back in that car, allowed herself to burn with it. Why had she let someone pull her away?
    She hated herself for leaving them alone.
    But no more. They wouldn’t be alone anymore. Mommy was coming. Mommy would be holding them soon. They’d be a family again. The way they were meant to be.
    Forever.

CHAPTER
FIVE
    Gia rolled over in bed for what seemed like the hundredth time. She couldn’t sleep. The visit with Bill and Nancy had set her nerves on edge and they weren’t even her in-laws.
    She’d never cared for them. Claire hadn’t, either. But being the kind person Claire was, she’d rarely complained about them over the years. In fact, she’d barely spoken about them, which was a sure sign Claire disliked them. If Claire liked someone, as she did most people she met, Gia couldn’t get her to shut up about the interesting tidbits of their lives she’d uncovered.
    But Nancy and Bill? Claire was practically mute on the couple. Gia always felt Claire believed complaining about the Matthews would be disrespectful to Jack. They were his parents and had raised him to be a wonderful man and husband. There must be something redeeming about them, right?
    But Gia had never been so sure.
    Nancy had pulled a lot of crap over the years, making Claire’s life much more difficult than it needed to be. Nancy would change their plans to visit at the last moment, always right after Claire had spent two days cleaning the entire house. Or, like today, they’d just “pop in” for a visit, when Claire was knee deep in Play-Doh and poop. For years, that had been Claire’s favorite expression. Whenever Gia would call, Claire would inevitably say she was “knee deep in Play-Doh and poop.” When Nancy would show up on such a day, unannounced,she’d inevitably have some snide comment to make about the condition of Claire’s house or the state of the children.
    Nancy felt the world revolved around her. Instead of coming to help Claire after she gave birth to Luke, Nancy insisted she had a stomach bug or a broken toe—Gia couldn’t remember which. Maybe it was both. And, she actually asked if Jack could come stay with them so his dad could get a break from helping her. Jack, of course, saw through the charade and refused to leave Claire’s side. Claire had been grateful for this, but she’d felt as if she’d somehow caused Jack to choose between her and his parents.
    Gia couldn’t stand Nancy and the fact she’d had the nerve to show up today and act as if her life was worse than Claire’s. It had taken all Gia had to not punch the woman.
    Claire hadn’t said a word since her in-laws had left and Gia had given Claire space. When