Another fan selfie from LAX the next day alerts Viv to the fact that Damien is already on his way back. She calculates that, judging by the timing of the picture, he’ll land in New York around three in the afternoon. It’ll take him an hour or so to get back home, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, so Viv decides to be at the bubble tea café at around half past three.

She spends a couple of hours sorting through all the baby clothes and toys she bought the previous day. Seeing the tiny pink vests and romper suits fills her with a happiness she hasn’t felt in a long time. The stroller and crib she ordered at Babies R Us will arrive in a few days. Then she browses the Internet for a while, looking at nursery wallpaper patterns. The apartment on Park Avenue only has two bedrooms, but she estimates that it’ll take her and Damien a little longer than nine months to find their perfect home together, so she’ll convert the second bedroom into a nursery as soon as possible. There’s no way she’ll move in with Damien into that crummy penthouse in Chinatown. Good thing the New York apartment is hers; she bought it with her income for Eve. There won’t be any unpleasantness about it with Victor when it comes to the divorce.

She hails a yellow cab for the ride downtown today. The limousine chauffeur yesterday had thrown her odd looks by the time he’d dropped her off home with all her baby purchases and hadn’t even offered to help her carry them inside. In the end, the doorman had obliged, but Viv would rather not meet the rude chauffeur again just yet.

On the drive she considers texting or calling Damien, but something stops her. Viv frowns at her own strangeness. Why should she be worried about it? Maybe he’s still mad at her, and that’s better worked out face-to-face.

She settles again into the window at the bubble tea café. After twenty minutes, a cab pulls up outside Damien’s building. He gets out, his cell clamped to his ear. Viv watches him unload a small suitcase from the trunk but doesn’t move. A few moments later, the cab pulls away, and Damien disappears into the house and from view.

Viv sits motionless, clutching her handbag. She has no idea why she didn’t go out to catch up with Damien before he disappeared. When he got out of the cab all she could think about was how he hadn’t wanted her to stay the night last time they saw each other. What if he really doesn’t want to see her now? She wants to tell him about the baby. She’s sure he won’t want to leave her side once he knows, but such news need the right occasion. And maybe now is not the time to tell him. He’s just had a long flight and is tired.

A gaggle of teenage girls bursts through the door into the bubble tea café, laughing and talking at high volume. Viv flinches, then slides off the barstool and hurries past them out of the shop. As she walks toward the nearest bigger intersection to hail a cab, past black trash bags containing the refuse of the day from all the restaurants and businesses around here, she once again muses about what an unpleasant neighborhood this is.

She can’t wait to get Damien uptown. Once he sees how much better life is there, he’ll be grateful about the fresh start with her and their little one.