Daniel Reeves had imagined his homecoming a dozen times during the six-hour drive back from Minneapolis.
He would leave his suitcase by the stairs.
Sophie would hear the door and come running in mismatched socks.
Claire would pretend to complain that he had brought home another ridiculous conference tote bag, and then the three of them would order pizza because nobody felt like cooking.
Instead, when Daniel opened the front door of their Des Moines home shortly after seven on Saturday evening, he heard his three-year-old daughter crying from the kitchen.
“Mommy, I don’t feel good.”
The sound was thin and exhausted.
Daniel dropped his suitcase.
“Sophie?”
He crossed the hallway quickly.
Claire stood beside the stove wearing pajama pants and Daniel’s faded university sweatshirt.
Her hair was twisted into a loose knot.
Sophie sagged against her shoulder, cheeks crimson, one small fist curled weakly into the fabric at Claire’s collar.
Claire held a wooden spoon in one hand and a digital thermometer in the other.
The kitchen looked as exhausted as she did.
Bowls crowded the sink.
A laundry basket overflowed near the pantry.
Children’s medicine, tissues, crackers, and half-empty cups covered the counter.
At the breakfast table sat Daniel’s mother, Judith, and his younger sister, Paige.
Judith was drinking tea while scrolling through her phone.
Paige wore headphones and was watching a video.
Neither of them was doing anything.
Daniel stopped.
Claire turned toward him.
For one brief second, her face changed completely.
Relief.
Then she seemed almost embarrassed by it.
“You’re home early,” she said.
Daniel looked at Sophie.
“How long has she been sick?”
“Wednesday morning was when the fever really started.
She’d been coughing the night before.”
It was Saturday.
Daniel stepped closer and touched the back of his fingers to Sophie’s forehead.
“She’s burning up.”
“It came down after medicine earlier, but it’s climbing again.
I’ve been tracking everything.
The pediatrician said fluids, rest, and watch her breathing.”
Sophie coughed into Claire’s shoulder.
Daniel looked toward the table.
“Mom, haven’t you been staying here all week?”
Judith finally looked up.
“Since Tuesday.
You knew that.”
He did.
Before leaving for his construction management conference, Daniel had actually felt relieved when Judith announced that she and Paige planned to stay for several nights.
Claire had recently finished a difficult project at work, and Daniel thought extra adults in the house might make his absence easier.
“Then what is happening?” he asked.
Judith frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Daniel gestured around the room.
“Claire is holding a sick child while cooking dinner.
There’s laundry everywhere.
The sink is full.
She’s barely standing.”
Paige pulled one headphone away from her ear.
“We offered to help.”
Claire’s gaze dropped.
Daniel noticed.
“How?”
Paige shrugged.
“I asked if she wanted me to order food this afternoon.”
Claire spoke before Daniel could.
“You asked if I wanted anything from the sushi place you and your mom were ordering from.”
Paige’s mouth tightened.
Judith set down her phone.
“Daniel, do not come home after being gone all week and start interrogating everyone.
Claire likes things a certain way.
Every time we try to do anything, she acts like we’re interfering.”
Claire stared at her.
“I asked you to sit with Sophie for twenty minutes this morning so I could change the
