I asked my husband to carry the grocery bags

alright?”

For a moment I do not answer, because the question is so simple and yet somehow no one in this house has asked it sincerely in months.

My hand rests instinctively on my stomach as the baby shifts inside me, a slow rolling movement that reminds me how close I am to the moment when everything will change.

“I’m… very tired,” I finally say, my voice continue reading …