“What,” I whispered, “did you just say to me?”

Chapter 2 — Chloe Is Pregnant

Julian crossed his arms, his face empty of anything at all.

“Two days, Clara.

That’s plenty of time to pack a few bags.”

“And where,” I managed, “do you expect me to go?”

He shrugged.

“That isn’t my problem anymore.”

And then, into the silence of that terrible kitchen, on the evening of the day we buried our child, my husband said the thing he had, I would later understand, been waiting all day to say.

“Chloe is pregnant.”

The air left my lungs.

Chloe.

My closest friend since our first year of college.

The woman who had sat beside me in the pediatric intensive care unit, through the longest three weeks of my life.