Julian's hand finds mine, squeezing gently. When I look up at him, his eyes are fixed on the screen, wonder written across his features.
"That's amazing," he says softly.
It is. It's terrifying and wonderful and completely overwhelming. This is happening. I'm having a baby.
After the appointment, Julian walks beside me in silence, giving me space to process. The spring air feels clearer somehow, the city noise distant beneath the memory of that tiny heartbeat.
"You okay?" he finally asks as we reach the corner.
I look up at him, this man who dropped everything to hold the hand of a woman he barely knows. "I don't know how to thank you."
Julian smiles, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "No thanks needed. Though I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee, if you're up for it."
Coffee. Something so normal, so simple. A lifeline back to the everyday world.
"I'd like that," I say. "But maybe tea for me. Cutting back on caffeine."
"Right." He nods seriously. "Parenting. Already making sacrifices."
The word "parenting" should terrify me. Somehow, with Julian smiling down at me, it doesn't.
Chapter 19
Camille
“My place is just right around the corner, and I have the most amazing Earl Gray tea from England. Would you like to go there? Or we can hit a coffee shop up the way…”
Julian's apartment surprises me. I expected sleek, bachelor-pad minimalism—what I find instead is warmth. Exposed brick walls, worn leather furniture, bookshelves crammed with actual books. Football jerseys framed on walls alongside black and white photographs of cities I've never visited. It feels lived-in, personal in a way that makes my chest tight.
"Make yourself comfortable," Julian says, shrugging off his jacket. "I'll put the kettle on."
I wander to his living room windows, which offer a stunning view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Sunlight streams across hardwood floors.
"Earl Grey okay?" he calls from the kitchen. "Or I've got some herbal stuff my mum sends from England. Supposedly good for just about everything."
"Earl Grey is perfect," I answer, running my fingers along a bookshelf. Sports biographies, historical fiction, dog-eared paperbacks with cracked spines. Books that have actually been read, not just displayed.
Julian returns with two steaming mugs, setting them on the coffee table. "Might want to let it cool a bit." He sits on the couch, leaving space for me to join him. "How are you feeling? About the appointment, I mean."
I take the seat beside him, curling my legs under me. "It made everything real. Hearing that heartbeat..." My voice catches. "There's actually a baby. A real person growing inside me."
"It was incredible," Julian says, his voice soft with wonder. "That sound—I wasn't prepared for how fast it would be."
"Me neither." I wrap my hands around the warm mug, anchoring myself. "I’m relieved the doctor said everything looks good."
"Have you told him yet?" Julian finally asks, gentle but direct.
I shake my head, staring into my tea. "I've tried to contact him. He doesn't respond."
Julian's jaw tightens almost imperceptibly. "Alex can be... difficult. But this—" He breaks off, clearly choosing his words carefully. "He deserves to know, but you deserve support no matter what he decides."
Something about his careful neutrality, his refusal to badmouth his friend even when Alexander clearly deserves it, makes my eyes burn with sudden tears. The events of the day—the heartbeat, Julian's kindness, the uncertainty of everything—crash over me.
"Hey," Julian says softly, setting his mug down. "It's okay."
"It's not," I whisper, tears spilling despite my efforts to contain them. "Nothing about this is okay. I'm having a baby with a man who couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye in person. I have project deadlines, parents who will disown me when they find out, and morning sickness that lasts all day." My voice breaks. "I don't know how to do this."
The confession hangs in the air between us, raw and honest.
