up the bakery box.
“That sounds very formal.”
“It is clear.”
She turned toward the steps, then stopped.
“After the birth, you may see this differently.”
“Maybe.”
She walked to her car without taking the box back inside.
I watched her carry it away.
The porch felt wider after she left.
At six twenty, Daniel was on the dining room floor with a screwdriver, working on the loose cabinet hinge that had been bothering him for weeks.
I read Vivian’s text from my phone.
“She says, ‘I need the hospital room number too.’”
Daniel tightened the screw.
“She already knows the hospital.”
“She wants the room number.”
He looked up.
“Did she say why?”
“She says she wants to be nearby.”
Daniel reached for another screw.
“I thought she was just trying to help after delivery.”
I put the phone beside the mail stack.
“She asked for a house key
