WHEN I got home that afternoon, I found Lilly sitting at my kitchen table and my husband lying on the floor at her feet.
“Am I interrupting something?” I asked, trying to pretend a nonchalance I didn’t feel.
“I found him like this,” Lilly said, and laughed.
I looked at her closely. Was she a murderer? I shook myself. Of course she wasn’t. She was my friend. I would know if she were capable of murder. Wouldn’t I?
I crouched down next to Peter. “Are you okay, honey?”
“My back gave out,” he whined.
“Where are the kids?” I asked.
“I brought Patrick, one of my nannies,” Lilly said. “He took all the kids to a café on La Brea to get steamed milks.”
“Oh. Great.” I smoothed Peter’s hair away from his forehead, and he winced. “Do you need anything?”
He moaned.
“Peter told me about the baby,” Lilly said. “Congratulations.”
I resisted the urge to kick my prone husband while he was down. I was the one who got to tell my friends about the pregnancy. And even if Lilly counted as one of his friends, she was still my client. “Thanks,” I said.
“I was just saying how much I admire you guys, going for three,” she said. “I could never handle it.”
“Neither can we,” Peter said, and moaned again. This time I did kick him, but softly and just with the toe of my shoe. He howled.
“We’ll be fine,” I said.
“How do you know that?” he said, leaning up on his elbow. “I mean, we can’t even handle the two we have. We’ve had like one night out alone in the past six months. We’re always running from place to place, and half the time we end up not showing up on time. How many times have we been fined by the preschool for picking Isaac up late? And let’s not even talk about the money. You’re barely earning anything, and who knows if I’ll get another movie after this one. We don’t have enough time or money for the kids we have, let alone another one!” With that he sank back down onto the floor.
I stared at him and felt tears pricking at the back of my eyes. “Are you saying you want me to get rid of it? Have an abortion?” I whispered.
“No,” he groaned. “I’m just freaking out. I’m allowed to freak out, aren’t I?”
“I’m freaked out, too,” I said. What I really wanted to tell him was that it was my career that was going to go down the toilet, my life that was going to be torn apart again. He’d pretty much go on as before, working, and spending time with the kids when he could. Sure, the financial burden rested on him, but every other part of it was squarely on my shoulders.
“I’m pretty freaked out, myself,” Lilly said. “Not about your baby, obviously. But everything has just gotten too much for me. This whole thing.”
I glanced down at Peter. She followed my gaze.
“I told Peter everything,” she said.
I hoped he had done a good job of faking ignorance. I mean, Lilly probably knew I was confiding in him, but technically I was supposed to keep professional confidences even from my husband.
“I came by to cry on your shoulder, and Peter’s been giving me some great advice on everything. On Archer, in particular.”
“From down there?” I said, pointing at him.
“I have incredible clarity from this position,” my husband said.
“Good to know,” I said.
“Peter said I should take some time away from Archer, and from Jupiter and everything else. To kind of clear my head.”
I nodded.
“I have an offer from an advertising agency in Japan. Peter says I should take it. Take the girls and get out of town for a couple of weeks.”
Great. Now my husband was instructing suspects in my murder investigations to leave the country.
Lilly flung her feet off the table and stood up. “I’m going to go round up the kids and head home. I’ll drop yours off on my way. Tomorrow, if I can put it together, I’m getting all of us on a plane.” She bent down over Peter and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, buddy. You’re a good friend.”
He smiled, and then groaned again.
I walked Lilly to the door and came back into the kitchen. Peter was standingin front of the open refrigerator door, staring at the contents.
“How’s your back?” I asked.
He placed his palms on the small of his back and leaned back. “Better. I got hungry.”
I rolled my eyes. “You want to talk about this whole baby thing?” I asked.
He shook his head. “We’ll work it out.”
“Yeah,” I said. But would we?