“No, she wanted to save days for when the baby comes.” Jane was looking around the restaurant with almost malevolent intent. “I can’t tell if this place’s coffee is good enough for me.”

Ayanna couldn’t stop looking at Jane. She had never understood the ways people described pregnant women, talking about glowing or some sort of radiating. Quietly she had sometimes thought those descriptions said more about how culturally uncomfortable people were with curvy women. Maybe she was a little jealous of her friend? Not because Ayanna felt a deep longing to be a mother, but because her friend could see the world—so often harsh and mean, especially to children, especially to Black children—and still feel confident in her ability to try to give a child a good life. She wanted to be that radically optimistic. Or maybe it was because Jane looked great. Buzzed hair, moisturized, toned arms, always interested in the world around her in a way that Ayanna felt certain meant she would forever be a little young.

“How are you feeling?” Ayanna asked.

“Honestly?”

Ayanna nodded.

“Insane.” Jane placed one hand on her stomach as if her long fingers could cushion the fetus from hearing. “This fool in here is constantly kicking and tossing and turning every night. People are judging the size of my bump and feel comfortable accusing me of exercising too much or worrying about my size. I have put on thirty lbs.” She sounded out the abbreviation lbs and Ayanna laughed. “I’m sleep-deprived and last night I was up late arguing with randos on social media about empathy.” She made a point of looking at the menu, even though they both knew she was going to order a mushroom omelet, hash browns, crispy bacon, and a glass of orange juice. Jane rubbed her head, seemed to get pleasure out of the fact that she had shaved her head so only a light cover of down was on top, and smiled at its texture.

“What about empathy?”

“Oh, that it’s so often treated as this purely positive force in the universe. But even empathy is about social power, and it feels like no one is questioning that.”

“Like whenever there’s an election and newspapers are interviewing old white men about their economic insecurities?”

“Yes, but I even see it tied to, like, gun rights. Those assholes are always saying ‘my freedoms this’ and ‘my freedoms that’ and they want you to empathize with them to act like it’s the same type of social freedom as being able to send your child to school. People act like if you just have the power of empathy even a book can change you and make you a better person, sure, cool, I wish. Most of the time, you have to have the ability to even notice who you’re empathizing with and consider why.”