Page 19 of Where You're Planted

She visibly winced, and more than the news, which caught him off guard, that flinch was a sucker punch. Because she knew exactly how he’d react, and he hated that he couldn’t prove her wrong, couldn’t conjure a shred of convincing joy. Witheverythingin him, he wished to course-correct the direction his body had veered—tense muscles, buzzing brain, a flood of adrenaline prickling through his veins. He forgot how to swallow. “That’s…”

“I wanted you to know before I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.” She turned sideways and smoothed Omar’s sweatshirt over the smallest bump. Fuck, if she was already showing, she was…

“I’m eighteen weeks,” Amy said to her stomach rather than to him, smiling softly. “Turns out, we were super cliché and conceived a hurricane baby. A girl.”

Had it really been that long since he’d managed to visit? He’d talked to her plenty, though. Texts and calls. She never let him go more than a few days without checking in.

Reading his confusion, she said, “I didn’t want to say it over the phone and then you kept canceling our dinners. Also, I chalked up missing my period to stress at first, so I didn’t even know until, like, nine weeks.”

Six years and a lifetime ago, he’d been obsessed with the slightest promise of a baby bump—the one that never formed, despite two years of trying with Sophie. Or at least, not when she was withhim.

Amy’s eyes were so full of pity and understanding and something like guilt. He started to assure her that she didn’t have to hide her good news from him. But then he remembered her heart.

“Wait. Is that safe so soon after…”

Amy’s hand drifted up to her sternum. The surgery scar was still raised and pink, poking out from her collar. “I’ll have extra monitoring.”

“What does your cardiologist think?”

Amy rolled her eyes, and at that dismissive gesture, the pain and fear burning in his veins seared hotter. “This is the reason I had the operation, Jack,” she said. “So if I had a kid, I wouldn’t leave them too soon.”

“I know, but it wasopen-heart surgery. And it’s only been—”

“Seven months.”

He shook his head. “Feels too soon.”

“Well, it’s happening.”

Jack swallowed. He didn’t know why he was arguing with her. His resistance would only drive a wedge between them. He knew this, and yet pressure built in his chest and throat, remarks straining for release. Had she and Omar tried to get pregnant this early into her recovery? Or had it been an accident, the kind of casual miracle that happened to other people but not to him? His bitterness was like acid on his tongue. He pushed up from the table and grabbed his coat.

“Just to be clear, are yousad,” Amy asked, her voice even, “ormadbecause you think it’s some huge risk I shouldn’t be taking right now?”

“Neither.”

She followed him to the front door and watched him shove his boots back on. He didn’t bother to tie them.

“Because I understand if it’s hard for you after—”

“It’s not hard for me,” he said, his voice harsh and cold.

“Maybe it’s easier to make it about my heart,” she went on, raising a pointed eyebrow. “I swear to God, if you regress to mother-henning me again, I will murder you. But if you want to talk about the rest of it, we can, you know.”

The rest of it. He preferredneverto talk about the rest of it.

“I don’t need to talk,” Jack said, shrugging in a way that could only be described as the opposite of nonchalant. One hundred percentchalant.

“Fine. Hug me at least.”

He did and then he bolted from her house before anxiety could knock him on his ass.

7

Tansy

The day’s bad vibes had set in early, beginning when Briar pulled a flyer off the car’s windshield before they’d even left home. The bright pink half sheet announced a gathering for neighborhood residents to recognize the rescuers who pulled so many of them from their homes during the storm. Briar begged to attend, and Tansy grudgingly promised to discuss it later, hoping she’d forget.

Then, school drop-off had nearly turned disastrous. While they waited in the congested line, Briar checked the weather app on Tansy’s phone, nervously eyeing the thick mass of clouds through the windshield. When they reached the curb, she hopped down wearing Jack’s hat, which she’d retrieved from her backpack.

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