Chapter 5: Nothing Leaves the Nursery

The first card was declined at the pharmacy counter at noon.

I was buying prenatal vitamins and a pack of the cheap nursing pads.

The cashier tried it twice and gave me a sympathetic little shrug.

I tried the second card, and the machine beeped again.

"It's fine," I said, and paid with the debit card from the account that only had my name on it.

June watched the whole thing with her jaw set.

"He said tonight," she said in the parking lot.

"He's early."

"What's in your account?"

"Fourteen thousand dollars. It's what I saved from work before the baby."

"Okay. So he can lock you out of his money, and you still have yours."

"For now."

I sat in her passenger seat with the vitamin bag on my knee and did the sums I hadn't wanted to do.

The crib, the car seat, my clothes, my grandmother's quilt, my passport, and every document with my name on it were all still in Brett's house.

"I need my things," I said.

"Let's go get them."

"He'll be at work."

"Then we go now."

His house sat on a quiet street with a maple in front that we had planted ourselves.

His car was gone from the driveway.

A white sedan I knew was parked at the curb.

"That's Kendall's," I said.

June's hand tightened on the wheel. "Do you want me to run it over?"

"I want to go in."

"With me."

"With you."

The front door was unlocked.

Kendall came out of the kitchen drying her hands on a dish towel before we had even closed it.

"Millicent!"

She hugged me, and I let her, and my face was a perfect blank over her shoulder.

Keep reading free with an account. Start 38 Weeks Pregnant And Done Waiting from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.