“Baby,” I said. “We are always allowed to get pancakes.”

Months later, people still asked me how I didn’t see it sooner. I ask myself that too.

I saw Brian’s impatience. I saw Marissa’s resentment. I saw Mason getting quieter. I saw Lily apologizing for things that weren’t her fault.

I explained all of it until explanation became permission.

That’s a hard truth to carry. But I carry another one with it.

At 1:58 a.m., Lily called. She called me. Not because I’d been perfect. Because somewhere inside that fever and that fear, she still believed I would come.