“We both need a break, Shannon,” he said, finally looking at me. “I just happened to plan mine first.”
I carried the basket into the nursery alone, the plastic edge cutting into my fingers as I set it down on the floor by the white wooden cribs.
By eight the next morning, the kitchen smelled of old coffee and formula. My mother, Clara, stood at the sink, her hands buried in warm suds as she scrubbed the dried sweet potato from the high chair trays. She adjusted the collar of her cardigan, her fingers smoothing the yellow wool as she turned to look at me.
“You look like you did not sleep an hour,” she said, her voice steady and quiet.
“Luna woke up three times before dawn,” I said. “I think she is starting to cut her bottom teeth.”
“You need to rest while they are sleeping this morning,” Clara said, rinsing a tray under the tap. “The world will not fall apart if you leave the vacuuming for another day.”
“I should check the Elm Road farmhouse next week,” I said, pouring myself a cup of black coffee. “The roof might need looking at before the frost starts.”
Clara adjusted her collar again, her eyes fixed on the soapy water. “That old place has stood for eighty years, Shannon. It can wait until the babies are a little older.”
“I just want to make sure it is secure,” I said.
“It is secure,” Clara said softly.
I reached for the small brass key hook by the back door where we kept the spare ring for the gray sedan. My fingers met empty air.
I looked down at the wall. The hook was bare.
“Did you move the secondary key ring, Mom?” I asked.
Clara turned off the faucet, the water dying with a dull squeak in the pipes.
“I haven’t touched your keys, Shannon,” she said. “They are always on the brass hook.”
“I checked the hook twice, and it was gone,” I said.
I looked under the mail organizer on the counter and inside the ceramic bowl by the microwave, but only my main key ring was there, sitting next to the empty space where the spare should have been.
“Maybe Ryan took them by mistake,” Clara said, wiping her hands on a dry dish towel.
