Suhani faces Zack as an avalanche of fear tumbles over her. “So you’re saying that you want to try for kids now?”

“I think we should.” Zack’s full lips curl into a smile. “And I know you were worried about trying sooner rather than later because of work, but I promise you, I will do everything to make sure this doesn’t affect your job.”

“You can’t really control that, honey,” Suhani says. “That’s something that can only change with better parental leave policies and less bias toward new mothers and—”

“I know the world is really behind when it comes to supporting mothers,” Zack says. “But don’t you think the idea of us having a family, our own little family, sounds so wonderful?”

People started dropping hints about her and Zack having kids weeks before their wedding. The aunties without tact warned Suhani that she was “only getting older,” while the subtler ones lamented that they missed being around babies. (One even said, “Your wedding gave us joy, so next year, you’ll give us a boy!”) Barbara straight up asks when she can expect to play with an infant, even though all three of Zack’s older sisters have kids.

Suhani finds all of it intrusive and disrespectful. It’s nobody else’s business and she resents that the world assumes all women in their thirties must be family planning.

“I’m sorry. I hear what you’re saying,” Suhani says. “But kids are a lot of work. And I love our life the way it is. Why would I want it to change right now?”

“They are a lot of work, sure, but don’t you think they can also add a lot of fulfillment? And I love our life, too, but what if it just became greater? I mean, a baby would be the product of us. How could that not be amazing?”

The strong cocktails and their conversation are starting to make Suhani nauseated. She reaches for the first thing that comes to mind. “We haven’t even discussed our thoughts on raising a child that’s Hindu and Jewish.”

Before Zack can say anything, she continues to rattle off one reason after another. The impact on their careers. Energy. Pressure to have a second child. Their sex life would plummet. They’d have to move out of their apartment. Time.

Zack has an answer for every single one. He’s clearly thought all this through.

Suhani ignores the tightening in her throat. This isn’t the way the conversation was supposed to go tonight.

The bartender gives them the check. She’s grateful for the interruption. Before she can change the subject, Zack scribbles down a twenty-five percent tip, turns to her, and says, “Also, I promise I’d make it to all your prenatal appointments.”