Page 77 of Tides That Bind

I jut my head back. “You’re timing them?”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?”

I shake my head. “You don’t have to worry about Braxton Hicks.”

“You keep saying that!” Riley exclaims. “But I don’t know what that means.”

Going to the corner, I get a package of diapers and tear it open. “It’s like practice.”

“Practice?” Riley asks.

“Yes.” I open the top drawer and then grab diapers,neatly filing them in the plastic bins I got to keep things neat. I wonder if I bought too many of one kind. What if Pampers give him diaper rash? Maybe I should go and grab some Huggies. And another thing of diaper cream. “Practice.”

Riley shakes his head. “I’m calling Claire.”

“Claire is in Sacramento this week.”

“I’ll call Caroline.”

“Your sister is in New York at your dad’s office.”

Riley presses his lips together. His exhale through his nose is loud and agitates me.

“Can you just put together the crib, please?”

“If you’re not worried about being in labor why do you care about the crib? Why can’t you just wait until Nate comes home and let him do it?”

“Because!” I turn and scream. “Because I’m asking you to. And it’s storming outside and you can’t exactly surf or”—I pause—“do whatever else it is you do. Can you just do this for me, please?”

I won’t have this baby today. Or tomorrow. I’ll have it the minute Nate is home but not a second sooner.

But I still want to control what I can control. Right now, it’s getting the nursery ready.

I look around. “I forgot the paint in the car.”

“The paint?”

I pick up a candle and hold it up to the wall. “Doesn’t the trim look yellow to you?”

Riley shakes his head. “It’s white, Harper.”

“But yellow-y white.” I sigh, putting the candle down. “I need to repaint it.”

I go to move around him and Riley grabs my shoulders. “Can you slow down?”

“There’s still a lot to do.” I suddenly feel so overwhelmed, I’m nauseous. “I have to repaint the trim and get more diapers. I haven’t found a pediatrician and—”

“Harper.”

I step out of Riley’s hold and go back to the drawer I left open forthe dresser. “Nail clippers. I also need to get baby nail clippers. You know what? While you work on that, I’m going to run to Target. Do you want anything?”

I move around Riley toward the center of the room so I can avoid stepping on the crib bits.

“Do we have the right screwdriver?”

“Harper.”

“Oh, you know we need more—”

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