Chapter 5

After Daniel got home from work, I put the care agency's emails on the dining table.

"Until the service starts again, we need a clear plan for tonight."

Kate sat nearby, holding our daughter.

Daniel took off his jacket and glanced at the printed emails.

"What do you have in mind?"

"From nine to midnight, you handle diapers and settling her. Wake me when she needs to feed, then take her again when I'm done. Kate can take seven to nine in the morning so I can catch up on sleep."

Kate looked down at the baby.

"I can do mornings."

Daniel nodded too.

I wrote down the times, then added one more thing.

"No visitors for the next few days. If anyone wants to come over, they can wait until I've had some rest."

"It's not like we have that many people coming," Daniel said.

"Just don't arrange any visits for now."

He put the paper beside the fridge and said he understood.

At seven the next morning, Kate took the baby as agreed.

I hadn't been lying down long when I heard the doorbell downstairs.

Then came the sound of two women talking.

I checked my phone. Seven forty.

A few minutes later, Kate knocked and opened the bedroom door.

"Linda and her friend brought breakfast. They wanted to see the baby while they're here."

Linda was Kate's former neighbor. I'd met her only once, at Sophie's graduation party.

"Didn't we agree last night that we weren't having visitors?"

"They won't stay long. They'd already bought everything. I couldn't just send them away."

Downstairs, someone laughed and asked where the bathroom was.

I pulled up the covers.

"I need to sleep."

"Then sleep. I'll take care of them."

She closed the door, but I never got back to sleep.

Laughter drifted up through the floor, and someone came upstairs, opened my bedroom door by mistake, then hurriedly apologized.

The visitors didn't leave until after nine.

Kate handed me my now-crying daughter and explained that they'd been so taken with the baby, they'd lost track of time.

I held my daughter, too tired to argue.

At eight fifty that evening, I finished feeding her and laid out clean diapers and pajamas.

Daniel was in the home office, with a meeting open on his screen.

"Ten minutes," I reminded him.

He pointed to his headset and nodded to show he'd heard.

At nine twenty, our daughter needed a diaper change.

I carried her over and knocked on the door. Daniel covered his microphone and asked me to wait a little longer.

"Something's come up."

"How long?"

"Twenty minutes."

I changed her diaper myself.

She wasn't sleepy and cried whenever I put her down, so I sat holding her while I waited for those twenty minutes to pass.

At ten, the office door was still closed.

Kate came out of the kitchen and saw the baby in my arms.

"Still awake?"

"Daniel's still in his meeting."

"Then don't disturb him."

I looked at her.

"Could you take her for now?"

She wiped her hands and took my daughter.

But less than ten minutes later, the baby started crying, and she brought her back.

"She might be hungry again."

My daughter didn't nurse. She just gradually settled in my arms.

At ten forty, Daniel finally came out of the office.

"I can take her now."

I didn't hand her over right away.

"You said nine."

"I got held up with work. I couldn't help it."

"You could have told me earlier, or worked out with Kate who was going to take over."

Kate sat at the other end of the couch without saying anything.

Daniel reached out, then let his hands drop.

"I'm here now. How much longer do you want to talk about it?"

I handed him the baby and picked up my water.

The schedule was still beside the fridge.

All three of us had seen the two time slots I'd written down last night, and all three of us had agreed.

I'd thought I would get to bed on time tonight, so I'd even pushed through the drowsiness I'd felt during the day.