Daniel rubbed the pencil between his fingers. “No.”
I watched him read the message again.
“Ask her.”
“I already did.”
“And?”
“She said Mom wants Karen nearby.”
“Nearby for what?”
Daniel looked at the calendar.
“I don’t know.”
The answer bothered me because he had begun with “I should have” so many times lately, and this time he did not.
He folded the calendar closed.
“I’ll ask Vivian.”
“Not tonight.”
He looked at me.
“Why not?”
“Because I want Karen to tell me what Vivian says when she thinks nobody is checking.”
Daniel opened his mouth, then shut it.
I gathered the calendars into one stack.
The delivery was Friday.
Karen was being placed somewhere at the hospital before that day arrived.
I still did not know what Vivian expected her to do there.
At 8:10, Daniel stood beside the Buick at theend of the driveway, filling the tank while I checked the hospital bag against my list. The receipt from the grocery store was still tucked under the magnet on the refrigerator inside, the total visible through the kitchen window.
“Three shirts,” I said. “Two blankets. Toiletries.”
Daniel looked toward me.
“Car seats?”
“Still in the garage.”
“Good.”
My phone lit up in my hand.
Karen.
I opened the message.
I will be there if you need me.
I read it twice.
Daniel capped the gas nozzle.
“What did she say?”
I handed him the phone.
He read the message and gave it back.
“She knows where to wait,” he said.
I looked at him.
“How do you know that?”
He did not answer.
I put the phone into my coat pocket.
