I shift on the blanket, lying down and mirroring Hugo. "Sal told me that not only did your father not have enemies, but he only had friends."
"It's true. So it must've been a random crime, right?"
I picture my notes, spread out around Hugo's dining room table. The way I've been toying with the possibility that Simon might have known his killer. "Maybe," I hedge. "Anything is possible."
Hugo shifts to lie on his back. I do the same, my hands naturally falling to my stomach.
"Oh," I say, as Peanut twirls and jumps.
"What's wrong?" Alarm puts an urgency in Hugo's tone.
"Everything is fine. Peanut likes Vivi's food."
"You can feel the baby?"
"Only recently. The first morning at Summerhill, actually." Where I was safe, in Hugo's guest bed.
Peanut somersaults again. Right now, it feels like something swimming, but everything I've read says that before long, it will look like an alien stretching inside me, an elbow and a knee and the heel of a foot passing over, visible from the outside.
Hugo props himself up on his elbows, gaze zeroed in on my stomach. "What does it feel like?"
"A flurry of bubbles, but stronger. Almost like a darting back-and-forth."
I prop myself up on my elbows too, looking down at my belly. It's still relatively small, especially compared to what I know it will grow to be, but its profile is taking up more space now. Protruding, making itself known.
"It's cute," Hugo says. "Your bump."
I smile down at it. "I happen to think it's pretty cute, too."
"Can I touch it?"
I glance right, and find his eyes are already on me. He looks hopeful, but also shy.
The only other person who has put their hands on my stomach, besides my doctor, is Jolene. When I chose to have Peanut on my own, I never could have guessed how it would feel to do everything by myself. Nobody totenderly run a hand over my stomach, or coo and read to my bump. I can do all that myself, but it would be nice to share it with another person.
Never in a million years would I have guessed Hugo might be the person to ask if he can touch my belly, but it doesn't feel weird.
"Yes," I hear myself say.
Chapter 31
Hugo
Can I touch it?
Did I really ask that?
It's not a puppy at an adoption fair. I wish I could rewind the moment, take it back, but it's too late now because the question is out there. There's no use berating myself.
Mallory said yes, but odd questions require a double check. "Are you sure?"
Instead of answering, Mallory says, "Sit up."
I do as she says. From her propped up on her elbow position, she motions her chin toward her stomach. "Peanut's waiting."
Tentatively, I reach out. I didn't touch Vivi's belly when she was pregnant. What reason would I have? She was married, and as much of a jerk as her husband turned out to be, that guy was all over her belly. I never asked because she looked like she had enough from him. Also,she's my sister. I'll hug her all day long, but touching her stomach felt too intimate.
Too intimate, yet here I am, pressing my uncertain fingers against the fabric of Mallory's clothing. Mallory sits up, covering my hand with her own. She takes over, sending my touch on a path across the top of her stomach, traveling down the other side and under, then back up and across the top.
