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“Hi,” I breathe, biting my lip so I don’t cry again.

“You busy?” he asks, lighthearted. “Wanna come downstairs? I wanna take you somewhere.”

I blink. “Now?”

“Yeah. Now.”

Thalia watches me closely, her face calm, steady, as I nod at the phone like he can see me. I wipe under my eyes quickly, trying to compose myself.

“You okay?” he asks, sensing something.

“I’m… yeah. I’m okay. I’ll be down in five.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I hang up and stare at the phone in my hand. Then at the five tests on the sink.

Not yet.

But the thought hits me then. There’s no way I can walk out that door and pretend I’m not carrying five unopened answers in that bathroom. I need them with me. I need to know. Maybe not this second, but soon. I won’t be able to breathe otherwise.

With shaking hands, I grab all five tests from the sink and wrap them in toilet paper like they’re sacred, fragile things.

Then I move to the dressing room, grab a jacket, and tuck them deep into the inner pocket of it, my fingers hovering there for a second—like if I press hard enough, they’ll disappear, or confirm everything just through touch.

Thalia’s watching. She doesn’t say a word. But her eyes are softer now, her smirk is gone, replaced by something that looks like pride.

“You’ll know when you’re ready,” she whispers. “And he’ll be right there. Go.”

I nod, pull my jacket tighter around me, take one last deep breath to steel my heart—and then I go.

When I arrive in the underground parking lot, there he is. Leaning against the passenger door of his car, one leg crossed over the other, baseball cap low, phone in one hand, the other casually tucked in his pocket.

His eyes lift the second he senses me, and they soften immediately.

I try to keep my pace slow, even. Normal. I even fixed my hair a bit before leaving the bathroom, put some tinted balm on my lips, slapped cold water on my face to hide the nausea and the panic that’s still dancing just under my skin.

But Nick’s gaze is laser sharp. Of course it is. He knows every version of me. His brows knit together the moment I’m close enough.

“Baby, you okay?” His voice wraps around me like a blanket—worried, grounded, warm.

I smile gently, forming the lie to sound as close to truth as I can.

“Yeah, baby. I was watching this movie with Thalia and it kind of hit me hard. We paused right at a sad part.”

I let out a breathy little laugh, hoping it sounds like me. Like the wife he kissed goodbye this morning, not the woman currently hiding five potential life-altering answers in her pocket.

Nick steps closer, cupping my cheek with his warm hand, his thumb brushing just under my eyes.

“You sure?” he asks, eyes searching mine.

“Promise,” I say softly, covering his hand with mine. “I just need a little distraction.”

His lips tug into a crooked smile.

“Well, good thing that’s exactly what I planned.”

Then he leans down and kisses my forehead—slow and lingering—and just like that, the whirlwind inside me stills for a second. Just one heartbeat of peace. One quiet second where I let myself fall into him, into this life, into the possibility that maybe everything is about to change… and maybe, just maybe, that could be something beautiful.