Page 22 of The Delivery

“Not what?”

“Nothing. I’m just saying, someone has to pay for all this. Especially after this quarter-of-a-million-dollar boondoggle.”

“That was my choice?”

His teeth are clenched. “I’m not saying that.”

“And it’s not a boondoggle, it’s an—”

“Investment. Right.”

A long pause. He can hear her breathing.

“Why don’t you just stand up to Derek?”

“And what?” he says. “Get fired?”

“No. Set boundaries.”

His temper ignites before he can squash it. “Right. I’ll take lessons on that from you.”

He squeezes his eyes shut.

When Rebecca’s voice comes after the excruciating pause, it is very, very quiet. “We don’t do that. We aren’t sarcastic with each other.”

He knows he should apologize, that he eventually will apologize, but he cannot muster the fortitude to do so now. Not after getting emasculated in Derek’s office.

He rubs his eyes hard, colors kaleidoscoping behind the lids. “How is she now?”

“Still sleeping. I’m gonna take her home.”

“Can I . . .” His voice shakes, but he steadies it. “Can I hear her? Breathing?”

The word comes pert and hard: “Sure.”

A rustling noise, and then he hears his daughter’s little whistling breaths, shallow as a newborn’s.

He listens.

Covers his mouth.

And tries not to cry.

Chapter 17

Driving home, Rebecca marvels at how Maddy can slumber after a fit. She knocks out like a baby. If Rebecca were to reach into the back seat and lift her eyelids, they would snap right back shut.

Despite the air-conditioning on high, Rebecca is sweating profusely. Her hormones still roar about, especially when she gets emotional, which is always.

She is furious with Mark.

She loves Mark.

But she is furious with him.

As she coasts up their street, she spots Jackson standing on his roof with a broom, sweeping briskly, angrily. Her body temperature spikes precipitously. He pauses to glare at her as she coasts past and banks into her driveway. Even once he is wiped from view, his angry, frozen form remains, a dark spot floating at the edge of her peripheral vision.

She shifts into park, her other hand already fumbling at the garage-door opener, rushing to close herself off from the outside world.