I walked into the house still holding my daughter’s ultrasound photo when I heard something fall onto the bedroom floor upstairs.
When I opened the door, my husband stood shirtless beside our unmade bed, hurriedly pulling up his pants.
“You’re home early,” Damon said.
He snatched a white shirt from the floor.
“I spilled coffee. I was changing.”
There was no coffee stain on it.
But beneath the bench at the end of our bed lay a champagne-colored lace camisole with a tiny blue charm attached to one strap.
I had seen it before.
Claire had shown it to me after her engagement dinner, laughing as she held it against her body.
“Owen paid a ridiculous amount for this,” she had said. “I’m saving it for our honeymoon.”
Claire had been my closest friend for twelve years.
She was also hiding behind my maternity coats.
The closet door stood open less than an inch, but that was enough. I saw a hand clutching the sleeve of my cream coat. I recognized the diamond Owen had placed on Claire’s finger. I smelled the perfume she had worn to our baby shower planning lunch two days earlier.
Neither of them realized I had seen her.
Damon moved between me and the closet.
“How did the appointment go?”
I stared at him with his belt still undone, his hair disheveled, and the bedsheet dragged halfway off the mattress.
Then I looked at the ultrasound image in my hand.
Our daughter had turned toward the monitor that morning. For the first time, I had been able to see the shape of her nose.
Damon had claimed he was too busy to attend.
