For one broken instant, I believed I must have heard him wrong.
Dominic Vance, my husband of two years, had just pushed a wrinkled fifty-dollar bill and several coins into my hand. He did not take the overloaded diaper bag. He did not ask whether I could walk. He did not even look at Leo, our newborn, bundled safely in a soft white blanket.
“Dominic… what do you mean, the bus?” I asked, my voice splitting beneath the thick afternoon heat. “I was just discharged. I can barely take a full step without agony.” Buspass deals
He released an annoyed breath and rolled his eyes, as though my surgical wound were nothing more than an exaggerated act.
“Don’t start, Audrey. My sister was up and moving three days after giving birth, and she didn’t make half the drama you are. Besides, it’s not rush hour. You’ll easily find a seat.”
Behind him, beneath the polished glass canopy of the private Upper East Side hospital, waited the glossy black custom SUV my father had given me before our wedding. Dominic used it almost daily, always insisting it “projected the correct executive image” when meeting venture capitalists.
I had imagined coming home differently. I had pictured Dominic opening the door, easing me into the seat, maybe saying something as basic as, “You did incredibly well.” Nothing grand. Just something kind. Something human.
Instead, he turned away and headed for the curb.
“And what about the SUV?” I asked, the cold breeze slicing through me.