“Are you serious?” he asked. “If I’d known that, I would have adopted a puppy instead.”

“Stop,” Jenny said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m just going to try and get through this year.”

“And then what?”

“Then—we’ll see. Or I’ll see.”

There’s still time for us to pack up the car and head south. To somewhere far away. Like Key West. Or the Bermuda Triangle.

“This is important, Kev.”

“Yes, and so is my question.”

She held her belly for a moment. “I’m sore.”

“Too sore for ice cream?”

Jenny sighed and looked at the collection of statements in front of her. “I guess not.”

“Let me go get some ice cream, and when I get back I’ll do these and you can relax. Okay?”

“I can work on these while you’re gone.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t have to. It just stresses you out.”

“It stresses you out too,” Jenny said. “You just ignore it.”

I don’t ignore. I bury.

“No I don’t. Listen, we’ve talked about this.”

“I’d hate to add this all up. Our Visa bill came in. It’s almost up to twenty thousand.”

“That’s good news,” Kevin said. “It’s a nice round number we can remember. Plus, think of the points we’re getting.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“It’s going to be fine, Jen.”

“Says who?”

“It will. Trust me.”

She gave him a look that didn’t resemble any form of trust. Instead it resembled a shade of skepticism crossed with worry.

I used to have her trust. I used to have her belief.

He used to also trust that God played a part in this. He could have said, “Trust God,” but he didn’t. That would have been hypocritical.

It’s great to say “Have faith in one another and in God” when you have steady income.

“Maybe I should go back to work,” Jen said.

“Jen, please, no.” He sat down in the chair next to her. He’d hoped to get out, to get her some ice cream and not go this direction. But it was inevitable. “Come on. How are you going to do that?”

“People do it all the time.”

“No. We already have our hands full with Gregory. Two more boys won’t be enough?”

“My mom can help.”

The worst part of conversations like this was that he couldn’t give Jenny a definitive answer. He couldn’t say, “We’re going to land some new jobs and survive another six months.” He didn’t know if Precision Design could survive another six weeks. He was taking it a day at a time. If he suddenly started thinking about every potential bill coming in—especially the hospital bills that were approaching with the delivery costs, which were all out of pocket—he might go crazy. Or feel completely out of control.

Kevin leaned over and took her hands in his.

“Just don’t worry about these, okay?” Kevin said in a calm tone that was as much for himself as for Jenny.

“Somebody has to.”

Ouch.

“Jen—”

She glanced at the checkbook, then closed it.