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The client meeting in Denver wrapped up a day and a half early. My return flight lined up perfectly, and for once it felt like the universe was offering me something easy. I didn’t tell Miguel I was coming back because I wanted to surprise him. We used to love surprising each other. In the early years of our marriage, he’d appear at my office with tacos from the food truck I loved. I once met him at the airport holding a handwritten sign that said Welcome back, grumpy traveler. We laughed easily then. We reached for each other without thinking.
On the drive home from the airport, I stopped at a small gift shop and bought him an espresso cup painted with a blue bird. It was silly and small and exactly the sort of thing he would have teased before using every morning. I remember thinking, with genuine warmth, that he would laugh when he saw it.
Then I turned onto our street and saw the cars.
They lined both sides, stretching along the curb in front of our house and even two houses down. My stomach tightened before my thoughts caught up. Then I noticed the balloons. Blue and pink. Then the streamers on the porch railing. Then the banner stretched across the yard: Welcome, our little miracle.
I parked a block away because something inside me was already trying to delay the truth.