“Wow, you were not supposed to really want to.”

The phone rings over and over in my hand, and Chris looks at it pointedly. “So wait, I’m not supposed to want to answer my phone?”

“Not when I’m straddling you! Aren’t you supposed to be distracted?” I grind a little against his pelvis, and he laughs before collapsing back onto the floor.

Without looking, I answer his phone. “Hello?”

My brother’s voice comes through the speaker. “Hannah? Is that you?”

“Uh…yes.” I slide down onto the floor off of Chris’s body as though he can see me.

“What are you doing answering Chris’ phone?”

Chapter Forty

Christopher

“Who is it?” I whisper, seeing the look on Hannah’s face as she slides off my lap and onto the floor.

She sticks up her index finger to shush me, shaking her head wildly.

“He’s in the bathroom. I saw it was you so I answered! We’re working on his finances, you know, boring stuff. What are you doing? Do you want to talk to him?”

Her words spill out of her like word vomit, and I realize that it’s Tyler calling me like he promised he would.

I check the face of my watch and see that it’s already been hours since Hannah and I starting setting up.

It’s nearly 8 PM. I hold my hand out to gesture for Hannah to return my phone and she sheepishly sets it in my palm before walking out of the room. “Hey, dude, what’s up?”

“I was just calling to see if you still wanted to hang out. What are you and Hannah doing together so late? She works almost as much as I do, and I’m a surgeon.”

He chuckles, not stopping to hear my answer. “Anyway, I just finished up, I’m getting my stuff together now.”

I stand up from my position on my back and stand in the middle of the empty room, littered with pieces of the crib around me. I consider how Hannah would feel. I can feel her anxiety emanating from the other room.

We said we had to tell him.We should rip off the band-aid. It’ll only be harder the longer we wait.“Okay, yeah, I’d like that.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Ummm,” I look around the room. “Do you want to come to my place actually?

“Sure, I just need a drink.”

“I get it. Just come on over and we’ll hang out for a bit.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ll get us a six pack.”

We hang up, and I find Hannah in the other room, hugging Lucy and looking at me anxiously from the floor, her chin wobbling.

“So, Tyler’s coming here?”

“He is, yeah,” I tell her, crossing the room to pet Lucy alongside her, my hand chasing hers like a bird that wants to mate.

“It’ll be okay,” I tell her, pulling her head against my leg and patting it.

“I know, I’m just trying to think about how we should tell him.” She presses her nose into Lucy’s fur and inhales.

“Are you smelling the dog?”