Mój mąż spóźnił się na nasze pierwsze USG – ale kiedy wszedł, lekarz zapytał: „Czekaj… Czy nie byłaś tu dwa dni temu?”

“So today wasn’t your first ultrasound.”

“Ayla, it isn’t my baby.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you saying it like that?”

“So today wasn’t your first ultrasound.”

“Because I thought we’d be clueless together. I thought we’d walk into that room terrified, stare at the screen without knowing what we were seeing, and hear a heartbeat for the first time together.”

“Ayla…”

“How many of my firsts weren’t yours?”

His face changed.

“I didn’t think about it that way.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Because I thought we’d be clueless together.”

He reached toward me.

I stepped back.

“She thought you knew I was helping.”

That stopped me.

“What?”

Nolan closed his eyes.

I looked at him.

“Take me home.”

That stopped me.

***

The drive was silent except for the turn signal and the air conditioner.

Twice, Nolan tried to speak. Twice, I stopped him.

I needed somewhere solid before he gave me another version of the truth.

When we got home, Nolan put his phone on the kitchen counter.

It buzzed.

Madison.

Twice, I stopped him.

He flipped it facedown.

“No.”

He looked at me.

“What?”

“Turn it over.”

“Ayla, I don’t want her involved in this.”

“She’s already involved.”