Page 216 of Say My Name

“Evan will call the landline.”

“You have a landline?”

“No.”

I laugh, and Dominic reaches over to steal a piece of tofu from my container.

“Thief.”

“You’re carrying my child. I’m entitled to one bite.”

“That isn’t a legal principle.”

“It is in this apartment.”

I try to take it back, but he catches my wrist and kisses my palm before releasing me.

The gesture is so easy that it barely interrupts the meal.

Those are the moments that reach me now.

Dominic refills my water without asking. He keeps crackers in his desk because I mentioned feeling nauseated once. He reads the pregnancy books after I fall asleep and leaves questions in the margins for the doctor. He still asks what I want, even when he thinks he knows the answer.

For years, I treated safety as something I could build through enough planning. Every variable needed a contingency, and every relationship required an exit. I believed preparation could prevent pain if I stayed ready to leave first.

Dominic gives me something steadier.

I see it in the ordinary choices he makes every day.

He clears the empty containers from the coffee table, then returns to the couch and pulls my feet into his lap. The rain falls harder, tapping steadily against the glass.

“Come here,” he says.

I settle beside him, resting my head against his chest. He drapes a blanket over us and settles one hand across my stomach.

There is no visible curve yet, but his thumb moves over me with quiet affection.

“Do you think the baby can hear the rain?” I ask.

“According to page seventy-three, hearing develops later.”

“Of course you know the page.”

“I took notes.” His answer is so completely, reassuringly Dominic that I have to smile.

I smile against his shirt.

His heartbeat stays slow beneath my cheek. He doesn’t reach for the phone he turned off. He doesn’t shift as my body grows heavier against him. He simply holds me while rain surrounds the apartment and the evening becomes quiet.

My eyes close.

For once, I don’t lie awake preparing for the day he might leave.

The weight of Dominic’s hand stays warm over the life we made, a steady, solid presence.

My body finally uncoils, letting me fall asleep because Dominic stayed.

CHAPTER 26