"Hey, honey," I said, holding up the bag. "I brought food."
"Gimme," she said, and grinned at me. I'd never seen her with that little makeup on, just a hint of blush and lipstick. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face seemed lined and tired, but I'd never seen her look happier.
"It's a girl," she said. "Katie."
I passed over the paper bag and went around the bed to the little bassinet to the side.
"Oh," I told Sarah, "She's perfect."
She really was, with her tiny fingers peeking out of the blanket she was wrapped in, and a little pink hat on her head to fight the draft of a hospital.
"Oh, my God," Sarah said. "This is the best thing I've ever eaten."
She spoke around the burger in her mouth, cheerfully repulsive, and made short work of the rest, evaporating it in a few bites.
I laughed. "Glad to help. Why isn't your husband getting it?"
She grinned at me. "I told him that if he didn't go get some sleep and come back less anxious, I was gonna kill him. He's at home."
I smiled at her.
"Can I hold this little squirt?" I asked.
She nodded, and I picked up the baby, holding her close, looking at her sleepy eyelids flutter open and shut.
I had a brief flash of longing, to be holding a little baby with Clint's magnificent eyes, to be holding our child.
"She couldn't be more perfect," I told Sarah.
"Damn straight," she said, and we both laughed, and settled in to gossip about work.
Finally, I came to what was really on my mind.
"So, Sarah," I asked. "Did you do any weird inspections with Herman Banks a few months ago?"
She shrugged and winced.
"I don't know," she said. "I tagged along a few times. Why?"
"Well, he's asking me to sign off as the second inspector on the Yates place, he said that you were the second and you can't sign paperwork on maternity leave," I said.
She raised her eyebrows.
"That's news to me. He texted me yesterday to ask me to sign a few papers this week," she said. "I didn't do the Yates inspection. It's a big place, and I told him I didn't want to be out for a full day."
I frowned.
"Do you know who he took with him?" I asked. "I don't want to sign anything that I didn't really do."
"Well, he's the boss," she said. "It sucks, but he's the guy who signs the paychecks."
I shrugged. "I don't know, it just doesn't seem right," I said.
"No shit," she said. "Now come on, give me that baby."
I passed the little pink bundle over, with a stab of reluctance in my heart.
As I saw her husband, Neil, come in, and the light on his face when he looked at his wife and child, I missed Clint fiercely. I wanted that from him. I wanted to give him a little girl and to see that look of love and devotion on his face.