She needed me to sit down.

I never once sat down.

Chapter 4 — The Changes

By her fifth month living with us, I began to notice changes in her, though noticing is too strong a word for the glancing, half-attention I gave them.

She was eating less and less.

I would notice, dimly, that she had barely touched her own plate, and then something on my phone would pull my eyes away, and the thought would evaporate.

And at the same time, strangely, her abdomen seemed to be expanding — growing rounder and fuller even as the rest of her seemed to be thinning.