I wasn’t sure if it was panic or excitement.
“I’m not the one holding it,” Ember pointed out.
I swallowed and looked down.
Two lines.
Clear. Undeniable.
“Oh,” I breathed.
Ember made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. “Oh,” she echoed, already reaching for me.
I didn’t remember moving. One second I was standing there, the next I was in her arms, her hands warm and steady on my back while I pressed my face into her shoulder like I might fall apart if I didn’t hold onto something solid.
“I don’t—” My voice broke, and I laughed weakly. “I don’t feel sick. I thought I was just tired. And then last week I couldn’t stand the smell of coffee and I?—”
“You live with bikers and work at the clinic,” Ember snorted softly. “Being tired is a given.”
I huffed out a breath, shaky. “I took it this morning. Didn’t even tell Lock. I told myself it was stupid to think?—”
“But you did,” she said. “You thought it anyway.”
I nodded, pulling back just enough to look at her. Her eyes were shiny.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel,” I admitted. “I’m scared. And happy. And terrified. And?—”
“And you’re not alone,” Ember said firmly. “You haven’t been alone in a long time.”
I blinked hard. She was right. Somehow, impossibly, I wasn’t.
We stood there for another second, just breathing, before Ember squeezed my hands. “So,” she said, “do you want to tell him?”
I laughed softly. “I think he already knows something’s up. He’s been watching me like I’m going to disappear if he blinks.”
“Yeah,” she said with a small smile. “That tracks.”
We cleaned up quietly. I washed my hands longer than necessary, like I needed the routine to get my heart rate back on track. When we stepped back into the hallway, the house felt too quiet. Too calm, honestly.
Lock was in the kitchen.
Of course he was.
He leaned against the counter with a mug in his hand, his hair still damp from the shower. He looked up the second I entered the room, his eyes sharpening automatically, checking, assessing, grounding.
I loved that, there was never a second I doubted him or where I stood with him.
“You okay?” he asked.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Lock set the mug down slowly.
Ember cleared her throat. “I’m going to go… be literally anywhere else,” she said, already backing toward the hall. She paused long enough to squeeze my shoulder. “You’ve got this.”
Then she was gone.
