Chapter 6: Page Twenty-Two

"He's mine," I said, and I stood up so fast my rib caught.

Lyle dropped his fork.

"The baby's mine," I said. "I had him Tuesday night. In the back of Lyle's car."

Zach didn't move.

He looked at me, and then at the napkin with the terms on it, and then at the ceiling where the crying had stopped.

"He," he said.

"His name is Gus."

"And you're married."

"Not for long."

He looked at me for a long moment.

I watched him count something on his face.

"Term one," he said at last. "No questions about the last nine months."

"You read the napkin."

"I read all of it," he said. "I'm going to go fix my mother's fence."

He stood, set his napkin on his plate, and went out the back door.

He did not slam it.

Lyle waited until the screen had stopped swinging.

"That man," he said, "is going to be trouble."

"Why?"

"Because he did what you told him," he said. "That's the trouble kind."

On Monday I went to the stadium.

Chase had called a press conference for ten in the morning, to tell the city that his heart was breaking and that his private grief needed space.

I knew because Lacey's publicist had emailed the whole press list, and I was still on it.

Clause 12 says my spousal credentials end when the divorce is final.

I had not signed anything.

Lyle drove me there himself with the baby seat in the back and a tank of gas he refused to let me pay for.

"It's on the IOU," I said.

"It's going on the IOU in my head," he said. "Let me have one thing in my head."

I wore a plain blue dress, because the sweaters belonged to the team.

I put Gus in a cloth sling across my chest, with his head under my chin.

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