Chapter 1

I'd just finished dinner when my childhood buddy called to set up a card game.

I was about to head out the door when my wife, ten months pregnant and washing dishes, suddenly clutched her belly and begged me,

"Jim Fox, my water broke. Can you drive me to the hospital?"

I took out my phone and pulled up my payment code.

"Fare's a hundred."

She bit her lip, caught between misery and shame.

"You know I don't have any money."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Then take out an online loan."

Her eyes reddened.

"I already borrowed against a payday loan for my last checkup. I couldn't pay it back, so my credit's blacklisted. I can't borrow anymore."

"I'll owe you the money. Please, just take me to the hospital first."

I shook my head.

"No money, no ride."

And with that, I walked out of the house without looking back.

1

Half an hour later, I reached my buddy Alfred Finch's place.

At the card table, Alfred and another one of our friends, Tristan James, had already stacked the tiles. When I pushed the door open, Alfred looked a little surprised.

"Well, look who actually showed up."

"Tristan and I were just betting you wouldn't come. Your wife's at her due date, after all. Figured you'd have to be glued to her side."

I sat down with a grin.

"Nothing gets in the way of me and my boys and a card game."

Tristan tossed me a cigarette with a laugh.

"You slip out to play cards at night and Myrtle Pruitt didn't say anything?"

I lit it and took a deep drag, the nicotine hitting the top of my skull all at once.

"She said something. Told me to take her to the hospital first."

Alfred and Tristan both froze.

"The hospital?"

"What's wrong?"

I flicked the ash off, offhand.

"Nothing. Her water broke."

Alfred's hand stopped dead on the tiles, like he wasn't sure he'd heard right.

"Say that again?"

"Whose water broke?"

"Myrtle's."

Tristan's eyes went wide, staring at me like he couldn't believe it.

"Jim, are you out of your mind?"

"Your wife's water broke and instead of getting her to the hospital, you came here to play cards with us?!"

I took another drag.

"I told her. She pays the fare, I drive her. She's got no money, so what am I supposed to do about it?"

Alfred looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his head.

"You're taking your own wife to the hospital to give birth, and you're charging her for the ride?"

I nodded, dead serious.

"The car burns gas."

"Only a hundred, and I'm still taking the risk she'll get the seat dirty. That's pretty generous of me."

Tristan's brows knit tight.

"Your wife's about to have a baby and you're worried about your car?"

"Get back there right now and take her to the hospital."

Alfred pressed at me too, anxious.

"He's right. Childbirth is no small thing. Hemorrhage, cord prolapse, any one of them can kill her. Do not pick this moment to lose your mind."

I gave a faint smile.

"I'm perfectly clear-headed."

Alfred and Tristan traded a look. Seeing that I wasn't the least bit rattled, Alfred frowned, not understanding.

"Jim, I've been meaning to ask. Did you and Myrtle have some kind of falling out?"

I shook my head. "No."

He frowned.

"Then why are you treating her like this?"

"That's the woman you chased for eight years. It took everything to marry her."

"You used to dote on her. She so much as coughed and you wanted to be at her side twenty-four hours a day."

"Now her water's broken and you just walk out? Does that make any sense?"

The hand holding my cigarette paused.

Something in my chest went tight.

I didn't say anything. I finished the last of the cigarette in silence, crushed the butt out in the ashtray, and forced down the ache rising in my throat.

Seeing me stay quiet, Tristan spoke up too, curious.

"Jim, the three of us grew up together. Alfred and I both saw plain as day how much you love Myrtle."

"On your wedding day you cried like a mess, swore you'd love her right."

"How did two years of marriage turn you into this?"

Tristan paused, then ventured a guess.

"Don't tell me Myrtle did something behind your back, something to wrong you?"

I shook my head, and I meant it.

"No."

"She's been good to me."