“It’s twins,” I whisper. “I found out at the ultrasound.”
She just stares at me, like she didn’t hear me right.
Then her hand flies up to her mouth, and her eyes fill so fast I barely see it happen.
“Oh wow.”
“Yeah,” I say, with a wobbly half laugh that turns into a sob. “I know.”
She sinks against the dryer like her knees gave out.
“Twins?” she says again, voice cracking.
I nod, swallowing hard. “Two heartbeats. Two tiny, little peanuts on the screen. I didn’t even know what I was looking at at first. Then the nurse pointed it out and I…” I trail off, blinking against the sting behind my eyes.
Dee’s already crying.
Big, silent tears slide down her cheeks as she shakes her head, like her heart can’t hold all of it at once.
“I was already freaking out,” she chokes out. “At the idea of you doing this alone. But now... Josie, twins? That’s not justhard, that’s impossible. That’s double everything. Double the diapers, double the feedings, double the nights without sleep?—”
“I know,” I say quietly. “Believe me, I know.”
She leans forward, elbows on her knees, her curls falling around her face like a curtain. “You’re gonna have two tiny humans depending on you, and the man who should be stepping the hell up looked at you like you were the problem? I swear, if I see him in town, I’m gonna run him over with his own truck.”
That actually pulls a real laugh out of me. Wet and short, but real.
She wipes her face with her sleeve, then stands abruptly. “Okay. I’m in.”
I blink. “In?”
She nods, already starting to pace again, full Dee mode now. “If you go to Denver, I’m coming with you. I’ll figure it out. Find a transfer or take some time off or whatever. But you are not doing this alone. Not when he bailed. Not when it’s twins.”
“Dee—”
“No.” Her voice goes firm, shaking a little. “You’re my sister. You think I’m gonna let you move to a new city, pregnant with twins, and figure it out by yourself? You think I could sleep at night knowing that?”
My throat tightens. “But what about Nova?”
Her eyes flicker for just a moment. “My nieces or nephews need me right now.”
I open my mouth to argue. To tell her she doesn’t have to do this. That she has a life here, a job, a person, one who makes her light up in that quiet, rare way Dee doesn’t show with just anyone.
But she cuts me off before I can even start.
“This isn’t up for debate,” she says, fierce and final. “You’re not some charity case, Josie. This isn’t pity. This is us. You and me. Like it’s always been.”
And just like that, the ground under my feet doesn’t feel quite so shaky.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Knox
Sleep’s a joke these days.
When it comes, it’s not the kind that heals. It’s the kind that claws at you. That drags you under in flashes of bare skin and soft moans and sheets tangled around Josie’s legs. Her mouth finds mine like it still means something. Like I didn’t destroy it all with a single look.
I wake up breathless, hard, aching.
