“I won’t be here that long,” I said.

“Are you selling your place?” she asked. I hadn’t thought about that part of it yet, so I just shrugged. She turned over onto her side, pushed herself to hands and knees, laboriously rose to her feet. Rudy rushed over and tried to take her elbow, but she shook him off. She clocked out.

We squeezed into the truck, me with my knees up over the gearshift, Lily’s belly pressed against the glove compartment.

“How’s working for Rudy?” she asked, like she already knew.

“Fine,” I said, glancing at him, but he kept his eyes on the road, except when we hit a bump. Then he would look around me to see how Lily had taken it. She never noticed.

“When are you due?” I asked her.

“January,” she said. “Karen’s home right now figuring out how to hook up a pump so we can have hot water in the birthing tub. It’s a real pain in the ass. Our cabin’s only sixteen by sixteen. Karen built it. We got hot water just for the birth. We moved a propane water heater into a little shed out back.”

“You’re not going to the hospital?” I asked.

“Where they’ll treat Karen like she’s just some stranger, and all that hassle?” Lily said. “No. We’ll just do it ourselves.” She smiled and closed her eyes, leaned her head against the window.

“Fuck the hospital,” Rudy said, and stuck his ponytail in his mouth again.

Lily opened her eyes and raised her head. “Has Rudy ever told you the story about how his balls almost rotted off?” she asked me.

“My boyfriend told me that one,” I said. “He said Rudy got to the hospital just in time.”

“Is that what he said?” Rudy said around his hair. “I guess he didn’t tell you what happened next.”

“I wondered about that,” I said.

“Lily’s already heard it,” Rudy said.

“I don’t mind,” Lily said. “I like the way you tell it.”