I nod. You do hear a lot of stories like that: people doing everything to get pregnant and then, the minute they stop actually trying—bingo. The ironic thing is, that actually is my family story. Mom and Dad had basically given up after years of trying, when suddenly in Mom’s mid-thirties she had my sister Abigail and then me within a year of each other. Looking back, I probably should have taken it as a warning, the fact that Mom had so much trouble getting pregnant to begin with, but to be honest I’d always kind of taken it as a sign that these things do work out in the end. Which now that I think about it is absurd. Of course things don’t always work out in the end. If I’m honest, I guess what I meant was that they would work out for me. How delusional is that?

“Thanks, Di,” I say. “I hear you.”

Maybe next month, I think to myself, trying to keep the inner voice from sounding bitter. Because maybe next month is what I’ve been saying to myself for about two years now. My sister Abigail got pregnant the month after her wedding. I just never imagined it would be like this for me.

“You know…” Dinah takes a sip of her drink and gives me a cautious look. “I saw this clinic that opened up on the road to Rockport a while back.” She glances at me again. “A, uh, fertility clinic.”

I nod. “Yeah. I’ve noticed it.”

More than noticed, actually. Every time I pass it, it seems to pull my eyes magnetically, like one of those accidents you try not to look at but can’t help. It has some cheesy motto emblazoned over the entryway like Bringing You the Family You Deserve, which is so insincere it just makes me want to scream. How do they know what kind of family I deserve? For all they know I’d be a lousy mother.

Maybe I would be.

Maybe the universe knows something I don’t.

I sigh and look down at my mimosa. I thought it would feel like a pick-me-up, but I guess I’m not really in the mood.

Dinah’s looking at me, waiting for my thoughts. She and I talked about IVF once before, although back then Oliver and I hadn’t been trying for quite so long and I didn’t feel so desperate.

I shrug. “Oliver’s still pretty…you know.”

“Ah,” Dinah sighs.