Ryan leaned in the doorway and smiled, but he didn’t come into the room. I remember thinking that was odd, and then I forgot about it.
*
If I’m being honest, there were small things. Little snags in the fabric.
Melissa was warm, but she’d text me at 11 at night to ask if I’d felt the baby move that day. Ryan started checking his phone during ultrasounds, tilting the screen away from his wife.
I remember thinking that was odd.
Once, I asked him if everything was okay at work. He said, « Yeah, just busy, » and changed the subject so fast I felt it.
I told myself that he was nervous. New dads get nervous.
At the last ultrasound before the birth, the technician was moving the wand slowly along the baby’s spine, humming under her breath. Then she stopped.
She held the wand still on the baby’s lower back for one beat too long.
I told myself that he was nervous.
