Page 74 of Counting the Days

“Aw, wow, look at that little guy.”

Tiny had given birth three weeks earlier. Her doctor had put her on bed rest for the final stretch of her pregnancy, so she was not able to have a baby shower. Zoe and Ada threatened to bring a baby shower to her bedside, but when Tiny told them, dead seriously, she would have her security team escort them off the property, they relented.

Tiny had been relieved; no part of her wanted a baby shower. She could not imagine smiling for photos in a flower crown while being eaten alive from the inside. Rhea had been equally relieved; she could not imagine prancing around yet another baby shower while her heart was being eaten alive from the inside.

As much as Tiny hated being pregnant and referred to Wolfie as an asshole in utero, she was enamored with her son and sent pictures to the Ada-Tiny-Rhea-Zoe text chain every few hours. Rhea often wondered why she was still on the chain. It was now solely used for pictures of babies. Rhea grew weary of coming up with new compliments for her friends’ kids, so she started just sending emojis—hearts, balloons, smiley faces, whatever the occasion required—and this seemed to satisfy her friend group’s thirst for validation.

They tried tossing the pizza dough up in the air, like real Italians, but it kept falling on the floor, so they gave up and just shaped it with their hands. This was the tenth time they had cooked dinner together. If Rhea had known how much fun cooking could be, she would’ve started years ago. She pulled out the chef’s knife Danny had bought her and began chopping garlic.

“Is Danny short for Daniel?” she asked.

“No, it’s short for Dandelion.” The gravelly timbre of his voice elevated his corny humor, making it sound wonderfully dry and clever.

Rhea laughed accordingly. “It just dawned on me that you could have some unusual name I’ve never heard of.”

“Nope, I’m just Daniel. But please don’t call me that. It’s my dad’s name.”

“Really?You’re Daniel Beckett, Jr.?”

“Have I mentioned my dad is a narcissist?”

“I can’t believe you’ve secretly been a junior this whole time.”

Rhea was trying to imagine how she would feel if her name were Sarah Darby, Jr., when her cellphone rang. She saw Ada’s name and her heart skipped. Ada was two weeks past her due date, and everyone was on edge. Rhea answered, and the sound of Marcus’s voice made her knees soften; one never wanted to hear the wrong voice on the other end of the phone.

“Hey, we need a favor—” Marcus said.

“Of course, anything.”

“We’re at Trinity, and the baby’s heart rate is low. They wanna do a C-section, but the kids are home with our nanny and—”

“I’ll go to your house right now.”

“Oh, thank you so much. We might have to stay the night here, we’re not sure how long this is gonna take—”

“I’ll stay with them. I’ll take off work tomorrow.”

Danny was eyeing Rhea with concern.

“Can I talk to Ada?”

She felt tears welling, and Danny squeezed her hand.

“She’s with the doctor, I’ll see if she can call you before they take her…wherever they’re taking her.”

She heard Marcus sniffle. Ada Achebe took her birth plan very seriously and had thus far never strayed from it. Her first two children were born on time, at home, with the same weather-beaten doula and no complications. Ada’s life always went according to plan, and everyone in her circle was woefully unprepared for this turn of events.

“She’s going to be okay; they do this all the time.” Rhea’s comforting words were meant for herself as much as Marcus.

“Yeah…she justreallydidn’t want to do a C-section.”

“I know…but when it’s over, she’ll be healthy, the baby will be healthy, and everythingwill be fine.”

Rhea tried to stop tears from falling, but the idea of Ada not being fine had entered her mind, and she could not get it out. Although they did not talk as much as they used to, and Ada’s life seemed a touch too full for Rhea at the moment, Ada was still the closest thing she had to a family. She imagined indestructible Ada in a gown, on a gurney, scared and listening to a doctor explain the danger her precious baby was in. Rhea wanted to drive to Trinity and rescue her; instead, she would rescue her children.

—

Danny drove them through thecanyon toward Ada’s neighborhood. When he offered to come, Rhea almost said no, but she could not imagine coping with her Ada anxiety without her human Xanax.