No, he told himself. Finish your task. Stay focused. And then he added, Good boy. When he talked to himself that way, the voice he heard in his head wasn’t his. It wasn’t anyone’s. It was just firm and kind and maybe a bit older. The voice of someone who wanted him to do better, be better, get his life together and stop messing it up by forgetting things or being distracted by flirty guys on the internet. It was Daddy’s voice, and if Daddy had been real, he would have wanted Sammy to finish the strawberries before he checked his phone.
