Her heart thudded. “I still love him.” The words were barely a whisper.
“Oh, honey, of course you do. He was your whole world for an entire year.”
“I’m scared. I am so freaking scared. That morning when he told me it was over, my entire future just disappeared, and I was lost.Solost. And I know why he did it. I understand the reason,but it doesn’t change how I felt or how vulnerable I was. And it doesn’t change what happened next.”
“Callie—”
“I lost ourbaby, Aspen!” Her chest moved so fast, the air barely got in or out. “I was scared and alone and hurting, and he wasn’t there, and I don’t know how to move past that. I want to, but I can’t! I…I need to go.”
“Wait—”
She opened the door—and froze.
Lock. He was standing right there, shock clear in his features.
Ice slid through Callie’s veins.
She wasn’t sure how loud she’d been speaking, but by the look on his face…he’d heard.
Now the cold took hold of her limbs, and she had no idea how to chase it away.
She pushed past him and ran, not caring that she was shoving people aside or that everyone was looking at her. She just needed to get out. Get away. Hide.
Callie had beenpregnant?
She shoved past him, and finally he pulled himself out of his shock and forced his feet to move. He could have caught up and grabbed her, but he waited until they were outside and away from the large crowd of people to take hold of her arm and tug her to a stop.
“Callie! Tell me what’s going on.”
“Let go of me.” She looked anywhere but at him, and the tears in her eyes…fuck, they gutted him.
“Please. I need to know! Were you pregnant with our baby?” Even though he said them out loud, the words still didn’t sound real.
The look on her face told him they were.
And it hurt. Shit, did it hurt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
For the first time since stepping outside, she looked up at him—reallylooked at him—shock and something else burning through her eyes. Disbelief.
“Why didn’t I tell you? Did you really just ask me that?”
“You could have gotten in contact with me.”
“I tried! I called you every day for three weeks and you didn’t answer a single call. You didn’t even reply to a text!”
“You know why. I had to cut contact with you for a short period of time—”
“That was all it took.”
“All what took?”
Grief like he’d never seen before darkened her eyes. Then he remembered her words in the bathroom. “Youlostthe baby in those weeks.”
“Notthebaby.Ourbaby.” Her gaze held his. “I was fourteen weeks pregnant when I miscarried him.”
“Him?”
Tears freely ran down her cheeks. “It was a boy. I tried to call you when I started bleeding. Then when I was sitting in the hospital, wondering how I was possibly going to find the strength to live another day. You didn’t answer. Youneveranswered.”
