The call had come in from Hal Buckley. “Dominic Finch wants to personally send out a construction team to get your house back in tip-top shape,” he said. “They do excellent work—you can see their houses all over New Falls. You’ll still have some restitution money coming in from the other families, but believe me, this is better. Mr. Finch personally assured me that they’ll spare no expense.”

Ted was skeptical at first. “He’s buying his kid’s way out of trouble,” he pointed out. “Who cares?” Maja replied. “The damage is done. What we need to focus on now is how we get it repaired. If Dominic Finch wants to rebuild our house, fine. Great, even. We’ve got less than seven months until this baby comes. We don’t have any time to waste.”

Ted looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time in weeks. “Seven months,” he said. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Maja smiled. “Can you believe it?” Once she started smiling, she couldn’t stop, even though she knew she looked a little goofy.

Ted smiled back. He was looking at her the way she’d imagined he would in the daydreams she’d had of telling him he was going to be a father. Just for a moment, she glimpsed a real spark of joy, something she hadn’t seen in him for months. But in the next moment, he was frowning again, his eyes looking past her.

He can’t let himself feel this, she realized. He doesn’t think he deserves it. “Ted,” she said, “I have an idea.” She felt desperate to recapture that moment of connection. “Let’s go down and see the house. It’s been weeks since we were there together. We can bring sleeping bags and camp out.”

Ted just looked at her. “It’s raining,” he said. “We don’t have a car.”

“We can rent one,” Maja said, feeling reckless. It was another expense, but so what? The Finch family was going to fix their house. This was worth celebrating. She suddenly felt an intense desire to be there, in the place where they had planned to start their family.

Normally Ted would have argued with her and insisted they do the practical thing and stay where they were. And Maja would have gone along with him, knowing he was right. But today he just nodded okay.

An hour later they were in a tiny Hyundai, the cheapest car they could rent, heading down the highway with flashlights and sleeping bags in the back seat. It reminded Maja of camping trips they’d made upstate when they were dating. There was something comforting about sitting in the steamy car with Ted, listening to the oldies station as they drove. For weeks they’d felt like strangers. Now, at least, they were talking.