Naomi Watanabe Green was born in July. She, like the game her mother had been working on, arrived exactly on time.
Sam didn’t know if Sadie wanted him to visit, and he had always been bad at going places where he was not certain he was wanted. Besides, he did not particularly want to meet this baby. He feared babies in general— their immaculateness was threatening to him. With this one in particular, he dreaded finding Marx’s face in it.
You should go meet this baby, imaginary Marx admonished him. Trust me on this.
But Sam did not take his advice.
Still, he did what he could for Sadie. He went to work, even when he didn’t want to, even when he was in pain. He called Alice, whom he disliked, to see how Sadie was. He drove past her house to make sure her lights were on, but he kept his distance because that was what she had asked. Maybe it wasn’t enough, but it was what he could do.
