Clear as day. Positive.
My brain freezes.
I stare at it like it’s a foreign object, like I don’t know what it is even though I know exactly what it is.
A sound escapes me, low and rough. Not quite a laugh. Not quite a groan.
I sink onto the edge of the guest bed, still holding the test like it might burn me.
Pregnant.
Talia is pregnant.
With my baby.
My chest tightens in waves.
Shock hits first.
Then something else underneath it.
Something so strong it makes my throat ache.
A strange, fierce warmth.
Like the universe just handed me something I didn’t know I wanted and my body is already claiming it as mine.
My baby.
My family.
My heart pounds harder.
And then the second realization crashes into me.
She left because she’s scared of my reaction.
That has to be it.
Because I told her. I told her all about how I didn’t want kids. How I didn’t want to be tied down that way.
But that was before. Before I fell irrevocably in love with her.
Of course everything has changed now. There’s nothing I can’t imagine with Talia.
I want everything.
The happily-ever-after. The family. Growing old together.
I’m all in.
I squeeze my eyes shut and drag a hand over my face, the plastic stick still in my other hand like evidence.
“Tal…” I whisper, and my voice breaks slightly on her name.
I stand up again, shoving the pregnancy test into my pocket like I need it with me, like proof that this isn’t a dream.
Then I grab my phone again. I know she won’t answer my call.
