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My cycles had never exactly been regular, but two months in a row? I couldn’t remember that happening before. My panic only grew when I realized that during the timeframe, I’d been intimate with both Calder and Rafe. I was on birth control, but that didn’t guarantee anything. My copper IUD could’ve somehow failed. As the room started spinning, I felt adrenaline surge inside of me.

I spent the next half hour googling periods, pregnancy, and the failure rate of copper IUDs. I was desperate for answers, but the more I researched, the more confused I became. Then I had a brief moment of relief when I thought back to my ER visit. That was a month ago. Wouldn’t they have run a pregnancy test and told me if it were positive? I called the hospital and spoke to someone who looked up my record, only to find that they never actually tested me.

To make matters worse, in the middle of my freakout, there was a knock at the door.

Looking through the peephole, I saw Calder standing there. This was bad timing.

But I opened. “What’s going on?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I know this might seem random, but I just cooked up a big batch of pasta. It’s way too much for just me. Have you eaten yet? I figured I’d see if you wanted to…” His worlds trailed off as he narrowed his eyes. “Talia, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I said, short of breath.

“Come on.” He gave me a look. “I know you better than anyone—even if the asshole who normally lives here would say otherwise. Something’s wrong. Your face is practically white right now.”

“I need to sit down.” I blew out a shaky breath and made my way over to the couch.

“Oh yeah…nothing’s wrong,” he said sarcastically.

Calder took a seat next to me. “Did Rafe do something stupid in Vegas?”

“No. This doesn’t have anything to do with Rafe.” Not directly, at least.

Calder crossed his arms. “Well, I’m not leaving until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

“It’s none of your concern. I’m just having an anxiety attack.”

“Don’t feed me that bullshit, Talia.” He sighed. “Look at me. It’s just me. You trust me more than anyone despite everything. I know you do. No matter what’s happened with us, you can always lean on me if you need to.”

I closed my eyes, which was a huge mistake. Because when I opened them, Calder had reached over to my laptop on the coffee table. It was still open to the last screen I’d been on.

His eyes widened as he stared down at a page about the failure rate of the copper IUD.

“Oh my God,” he muttered. “What is this?”

“It’s not what you think,” I said, unsure where I was trying to go with a lie like that.

Calder laughed angrily. “It’s not what I think? Are you fucking kidding me? How stupid would I have to be to believe that?” He shook his head. “Well, this explains your mood.”

“My period is a little late, so I got concerned and started googling. This is all just hypothetical and probably an overreaction. Nothing to be alarmed about yet.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Define a little late.”

I swallowed. “A couple of months.

“A couple of months?” He stood. “Talia…” He started to pace. “A couple of months?”

I got up. “There’s no reason to worry or think my IUD failed. It’s never failed before.”

He stopped pacing. “I’m sure they never fail, right?”

“Are you being facetious?”

Calder rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m being facetious.”

We stood across from each other in silence. After a moment, his demeanor softened.

Calder’s mouth curved into a smile. “I’m not mad at this, you know.”