The hospital called and said a little boy had listed me as his emergency contact. I laughed nervously and said, “That’s impossible. I’m 32, single, and I don’t have a son.”

they had learned. Oliver had been in the back seat of a rideshare hit by a drunk driver. The driver was injured but alive. Oliver had no phone. In his backpack, police found a sealed envelope, a change of clothes, and my contact card.

“Was your mother in the car?” I asked.

He shook his head. “She put me in it.”

“Where were you going?”

“To you.”

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