There was no movie-style collapse.
He simply looked at the package again as if it had become evidence against him.
“I didn’t know,” he said.
“I know.”
That was the entire point.
I handed him Emma.
Then I gave him Lily.
He looked startled.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking a shower.”
“With both of them?”
“Yes.”
He almost objected.
Then he caught himself.
I showered for seventeen minutes.
I know because I checked the clock before closing the bathroom door.
Nobody knocked.
Nobody asked where the bottles were.
When I came downstairs, Brandon was sitting on the rug with Lily against one shoulder while gently bouncing Emma’s seat with his foot.
Both girls were quiet.
He looked exhausted.
Seventeen minutes.
That realization seemed to embarrass him more than anything I could have said.
Rachel made coffee and disappeared into her office.
Brandon kept looking at the twins.
Finally he said, “I really thought you had some system.”
