Chapter 11: Nothing Moved

Cameron's POV

I told Melanie I had to go.

She was sitting with the blanket over her knees and her foot still warm from my hands, and she looked at me for a long time.

"Go," she said.

"I'm coming back."

"You said that last time."

"This time I'll say it to your face when I do."

She said nothing to that.

I put my coat on, and I looked back from the door, and she had turned her head toward the candle.

The drive was black and icy.

I went slowly, and I rehearsed what I would say.

Celia's apartment was lit up when I got there, every lamp on.

She opened the door in a long white nightgown with her hair loose, and she was glowing.

"He kicked," she said. "Or she. Three times, right here. Feel."

She took my hand and put it flat on the front of her stomach.

I waited.

Her stomach was firm and high, and it did not give under my fingers.

It didn't rise when she breathed in.

I waited through her shallow breaths.

Nothing moved.

"She stopped," said Celia, and made a small, disappointed noise. "She's shy. She only does it when you aren't here. It's the funniest thing."

"The doctor said it's too early to feel much."

"She said it's different for everyone."

I took my hand away.

I thought about the porch at the lake, and a small hard heel hitting my palm through a winter coat.

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