My girls. Natalie and our daughter.
I lie back against the pillows, ignoring the pain in my head and my wrist, and let myself feel it. The happiness, the relief, the overwhelming certainty that everything’s going to be okay.
thirty-six
. . .
Natalie
“This box isfull of books about why relationships are doomed to fail.”
I look up from the dresser drawer I’m organizing to see Stella holding up a cardboard box, peering inside with barely contained delight. She’s already smiling like she’s about to read back to me every poor decision I’ve ever made.
“That’s research,” I say.
“For what? Your thesis on dying alone?”
“For characters. For writing. Not everything is about me.”
“This one’s calledThe Myth of Happily Ever After.” She pulls it out triumphantly, waving it in the air like she’s caught me in a lie. “You literally highlighted passages, Nat.”
Blair walks in carrying a lamp, Ruby strapped to her chest and making contented little noises. “Please tell me you didn’t bring the anti-love library to Jake’s house.”
“It’s not an anti-love library?—”
“There’s one here calledSelf-Partnered: A Guide toThriving Solo,” Stella interrupts, digging deeper. “With your name written inside the cover.”
“I was going through a phase.”
“You were sure going through something,” Blair murmurs, amusement in her voice.
Sophia appears in the doorway with an armful of clothes still on hangers. “Where do you want these? And also, I found your vision board from last year. It has a picture of a cabin in the woods and the words ‘no men allowed’ written across it.”
“Oh my God, can we please focus on unpacking instead of roasting me?”
“We can multitask,” Stella says cheerfully, setting the box down. “This can go in the garage, right? Or should we donate it? Or set it on fire?”
“Garage,” I mutter.
Jess emerges from unpacking my things in the bathroom. “I’m just saying, for someone who swore she’d never live with a man, you’re moving into his house awfully fast.”
“I’m nine months pregnant with his child. It’s not that fast.”
I sit on the edge of Jake’s bed, well, our bed, and press a hand gently against my belly. Everything inside me feels stretched and full and settling into something new all at once.
“Are you guys going to help me, or just keep giving me a hard time?”
Blair smiles at me, soft and warm, bouncing Ruby lightly. “For the record, we’re really happy for you. We’rejust enjoying the moment. You’ve been very insistent about your anti-love stance over the years.”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Jess adds. “Natalie Cruz, moving in with a man, having a baby, admitting she was wrong about love.”
“I didn’t say I was wrong about love in general?—”
“You literally had a box full of books about how love is a lie,” Stella repeats.
“Okay, fine. I was wrong. Happy?”
“Ecstatic,” she says.
