Chapter 10
Zara
Something was up with my husband. He didn't stay late for beers after work on Fridays anymore.
If he was running late, even for twenty minutes, he texted me a new ETA.
Yesterday, he vacuumed the whole house before I found him on his knees, scrubbing the bathroom floor.
I couldn't remember the last time he cleaned the bathroom. Willingly.
But perhaps the most surprising change he'd made was that he started using the shared calendar I'd set up for us—and he wasn't just checking my dates and notes; he was also adding his own reminders.
A project out of town in May. A friend's birthday dinner in June. He started putting notes on when he could do pickups or drop-offs for the kid's activities, and even wrote a reminder to buy Sienna new football shoes before her new season started.
It was all rather…peculiar. Yes, he was finally doing what I'd nagged him to do a million times, but I still couldn't help but feel unnerved by it all.
On the first week of April, I noticed that James had entered a new note for a date in early June.
"What is this?" I asked him, pointing at the date on my phone. All it said was V Day. "Is this our rescheduled Valentine's dinner?"
James immediately switched off his phone and placed it aside.
"Uh, no." He cleared his throat, looking a little nervous.
"It's actually the date of my vasectomy.
It was the earliest date they had available, which works out well because I thought with your mum being here, she can watch the girls that weekend.
I can get it done on Friday and recover while they're out of the house. "
My mouth dropped open, and I stared at him blankly for a moment. "Why?" I breathed.
"Because…because I..." His voice faltered before a look of determination crossed his features.
"Because I promised you I would. Because you said you were done with kids, and since you're the one who carries them, births them and does the majority of the workload, you get more of a say than I do.
You've put your body through a lot, and now it's my turn. "
My breath hitched as the force of his words hit me square in the chest. Sienna was three now, almost four. Even before her birth, I'd been asking James to get the snip, but he'd always blown me off and made excuses, or made some sexist joke about his threatened masculinity.
To hear that he'd booked the procedure on his own, and he not only knew but understood the importance of taking care of our birth control…well, it stunned me speechless. All I could do was stare at him in shock.
This behaviour was so unlike him and, while I appreciated it, I still couldn't understand why he was doing this all now, and not the tenth or even twentieth time I'd asked him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, concern etching his features as he took in my stumped demeanour.
I shook my daze away and cleared the hoarseness from my throat. "Um, yeah. Wow. I'm surprised, that's all. I've been asking for this for ages. I honestly thought you were never going to do it."
I had no idea why he looked so sad. "Yeah, babe. I know. I'm really sorry it's taken me this long to get around to it. And honestly? I probably wouldn't have done it if I hadn't–"
He suddenly cut off, his face turning a little red, and looking mighty guilty. I frowned at his censure. "If you hadn't what?" I pressed.
He blinked a few times, his mouth opening and closing for a response. But before he could answer, Kehlani and Sienna ran in through the balcony doors, distracting us with their animated chatter.
Our conversation was swiftly dropped, but I couldn't help but wonder…what exactly was my husband about to say?