The Perfect Child

by Lucinda Berry

Why did the universe allow people who hurt kids to have them? Why couldn’t it give them to people like me, who wanted them?

It gave us an opportunity to miss each other, and sometimes you needed that in a relationship even when you loved each other as much as we did.

It never crossed anyone’s mind that someone else might be in trouble. I wished it would’ve. Maybe then things would’ve ended differently.”

It was what I loved the most about him. But it was also what had gotten him into the most trouble.

the best way to fix yourself was to get your mind off your own problems and help someone else with theirs.

I wish people became foster parents because they have big hearts and want to help children, but sadly, that’s not usually the case.

She never cried. She just stayed woke.

It’d taken me over three months to grow my nails out beautifully and only a few minutes to chew them back down to nubs.

I’m really excited about the baby. I am. Things are going to be just fine.” It was the first time in our marriage that I had consciously lied to her.

Baby showers were no longer women-only events, but I wouldn’t mind going back to when they had been.

I was so tired of him backing out of difficult discussions because he claimed he didn’t want to fight.

She’s just a girl. There’s nothing to be afraid of.

It didn’t matter if a woman was beating up on a man—he took the hits. There was nothing that justified hitting a woman.

Janie’s feet never moved from their spot—not for seven minutes and thirty-two seconds.

“We got her Fourth Amendment rights waived,” Ron said. I nodded like I understood, but that was the first time I’d heard of someone doing that.

You couldn’t fix what Janie had, but he would spend his life trying.