Working

No matter how much they acted like a family, Claire knew it wasn't real. Ethan would legally be her son sooner or later but Alex was free to go whenever he wanted. The very thought made her chest feel tight. 

If he found somewhere else he wanted to go or someone else he wanted to live with there wasn't anything she could do about it. Their agreement for working together to raise Ethan was entirely verbal so it could be broken at any time. 

It would only last the next three years when she was in college anyway. After that she and the kid might very well be on their own. 

Claire wasn't the only one starting college in the fall. Michael had managed to get into Bridgewater State University as an aviation major to pursue his goal of becoming a pilot. Since it was such a long commute he ended up moving out there.