Chapter 505 - Seven Hours Old

The nursery had two walls painted and two left in the flat contractor white the room had come with, a paint swatch taped crooked beside the window where Arianne had left it three weeks ago and never come back to choose between. The changing table stood assembled and empty. A stack of folded onesies sat on top of it with no dresser to go in yet. Lexx's crib — the same one, because there was no reason to buy a new one when this one had years left in it — stood in pieces against the wall, taken apart the day they started repainting so the wood wouldn't get spattered. Franz had meant to put it back together that same week. His hand had cramped through the instructions by page four the one afternoon he tried, and neither of them had found another afternoon since.