I smirk. “You haven’t even tasted it yet.”
“You brought carbs. I don’t need further proof of your worth.”
I shake my head, laughing as I grab plates from the open shelving—ones I now know weren’t purchased by him, but by Vivienne, because Max “didn’t see the point in matching ceramics.”
We eat at the kitchen island, perched on stools, elbows brushing. Max twirls his fork with absent-minded precision, eyes occasionally drifting to me like he’s checking I’m really there.
I can feel something humming under his surface—tense, restless—but I don’t press. I just keep refilling his glass, keep the conversation light. He tells me about the meeting he had yesterday. I tell him about a kid who tried to check out a rock with googly eyes glued to it at the library.
He laughs, and I relax into the sound.
“So, Max… I actually need to tell you something,” I say—and even to my own ears, my voice sounds a little too high, a little too tight.
Max looks up from his plate. The smile he had on—easy, distracted—fades the second he sees my face.
“What is it?”
My heart slams against my ribs. This is it.
No backing out now.
I swivel my chair to face him fully, the weight of the secret pressing against my ribs like it’s trying to claw its way out.
“I found out this morning,” I begin, and his brow furrows. “I was feeling off. Nauseous. Tired. And I was late. So I took a test.”
I stop. My fingers tighten where they clutch the hem of my dress.
Max doesn’t say anything. Just watches me with an expression I can’t read. Like he’s bracing.
I take a breath. Then another.
And then I say it.
“I’m pregnant.”
The words hang in the air, fragile and enormous. They don’t echo—but they might as well have. Everything in the room stills.
Max goes pale.
Not just surprise. Not just shock.
He looks… gutted.
He sets his utensils aside with more care than I’ve ever seen him take with anything. His jaw tightens. His hands curl into fists on his knees.
I wait.
One beat.
Two.
Three.
Say something. Please say something.
His eyes meet mine—and they’re wide, almost wild. “Are you sure?”
I nod. “Yeah. I took two. I checked the app. I’ve never been this late.”
