The Secret That Broke Us novel · Chapter 22 of 32

Chapter 22: The Paper

June's POV

It took twenty minutes and one bubble.

I held her upright against my shoulder with Anders strapped to my front, and I rubbed her back in small circles.

Nate stood in the middle of the room and watched me with his hands hanging.

"There," I said.

A burp came out of the girl, wet and enormous.

She went limp.

Her head rolled onto my collarbone, and her breathing slowed.

Nate made a sound that was half a laugh.

"That's it?" he said. "That was it?"

"That was it."

"I've been trying to do that for six hours."

"You were holding her too flat, and you were tense," I said. "She can tell. Babies feel everything."

He sat on the bed with his elbows on his knees.

"How did you learn?"

"Lena. And a book. And a lot of mistakes at three in the morning."

I looked at the dark window.

"I had a house to cry in. You've got a hot plate."

He nodded.

I laid the girl in the crib and tucked the blanket across her.

She slept with her fists up by her ears.

I stood over her for a moment, longer than I had to.

"Lena knows where I am," I said. "I'm not staying the night. I'll go when she's sleeping well."

"Okay."

"You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat something," I said again, and went to find a pot.

I was heating canned soup on the hot plate when the knock came.

It was 8:40 in the morning and the shelter hallway was loud with children.

Nate opened the door.

Kristin's mother stood there in her cardigan, holding an envelope in both hands.

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