After a quick shower, Reagan found her mother packing up food to freeze. With the unpredictability of their current situation, her mom had taken to freezing meals they could easily pop in the oven. Reagan suspected it gave her mom a sense of control to have several months’ worth of homemade dinners ready to go.

“Morning, Mom.”

“Morning,” her mom said with a smile. “Fell asleep in there again, didn’t you?”

Reagan shrugged. “Guess so.”

“You don’t have to do that. He’ll be fine on his own. We each have a monitor to listen at night. You should sleep in your own bed.”

“Sure, Mom. You know you’d be in there if I wasn’t. You can’t say any different.”

“Well.”

“Uh-huh. Pot, kettle,” she said, pointing to herself then her mom.

Her mom chuckled. “Okay. You got me there. Do you have any plans for the day?”

“Probably check in at the office for a few minutes. What about you?”

“After I finish cleaning up, I’m going to take a walk and then come back for a nice long bath and a nap.”

“I can clean up. You shouldn’t have to do that.”

“It’s okay. I’m almost done.” Her mom took a deep breath before setting down the towel in her hand and leaning on her elbows on the counter as she looked at Reagan. “I heard what your father told you. He’s right, honey. Your life shouldn’t stop because of everything that’s going on.”

“But what if something happens when I’m not here? I need to be here for him. The doctor said he didn’t know the timetable. I couldn’t live with myself if I wasn’t here when, well, when it happens.”

“You are, and he knows that. Something could happen at any moment, and we can’t sit around holding our breath until it does. It’ll just wear us down, and we won’t be any good to him if that happens. Angela will be here until four. Take your time today. Go grab a bite to eat or take a walk. You deserve it.”

Reagan slid off the stool and gave her mom a hug. “I might just do that.”