The Wife He Left Behind novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Due in February

I called in sick on Thursday, which I had not done in four years.

Stellan picked me up at nine in a grey pickup with a ferry parking sticker on the windshield.

He had a second thermos on the dash.

"Decaf," he said. "I looked it up. I hope that's all right."

I looked at him.

"You looked up what a pregnant woman can drink."

"You put your hand on your stomach last night when I said my sister's name. Twice." He pulled out into traffic. "I didn't want to say anything unless you did."

I hadn't said anything.

I had told him the postmark was wrong, and then I had gone inside and shut the door.

"Twelve weeks," I said.

"Congratulations."

"He doesn't know."

"I figured."

We didn't talk for the next ten minutes, and it was easier than I expected.

Camille's old building was a brick four-story on Capitol Hill, with a laundromat on the ground floor and a bike chained to every railing.

Stellan had an old key to her apartment on his ring, and we went up four flights, past a man arguing with his phone in Portuguese.

Her door had a new lock, and his key would not even go in.

The mat in front of it said WELCOME in cursive, and under it was a pile of unopened mail, a month of flyers and a dental reminder.

I crouched down and read the top envelope.

Camille Fenn, with a Seattle address.

My knee gave a little pop, and Stellan took my elbow without comment and held it until I was upright.

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