So, I took some tests and almost fell off the toilet when I saw the result.
But I needed to be sure, so I went to the doctor, just in case.
And then I waited.
All day.
Through client sessions. Through staff check-ins. Through emails I couldn’t remember sending and a lunch I never actually ate.
I almost called Remi three times. I even typed out the message once, thumb hovering over the send button. But I knew she had plans tonight, real ones. She and Logan had something special lined up. Dinner somewhere outside of town, a night away from the noise.
A date night he had promised to plan.
They needed it.
Lately, something had shifted between them. The glowy honeymoon haze had faded into something heavier. She hadn’t said much, but I knew her well enough to see the cracks forming.
When I asked her this morning, she gave me a quiet shrug and a soft smile.
“We’re just going through something,” she’d said. “It’ll be okay. Tonight, will help.”
But her voice trembled, just a little. And her eyes were already glassy with the weight of whatever she wasn’t saying. There was something desperate in her tone, like she was gripping sand and trying to hold the shape of it. Like she could feel it slipping and didn’t know how to stop it.
I hated that feeling. That ache when love started to feel like loss.
So, I didn’t call. I let her have tonight.
I would tell her in the morning.
The phone rang just after six.
My heart stopped.
I answered in the kitchen, hand shaking around my cell.
“Hi Ava, its Dr. Mallory’s office calling. We got your results.”
I leaned against the counter, breath shallow. “Okay.”
There was a pause, a little too long. And then...
“You’re pregnant.”
I didn’t move.
Not for a second.
Then everything cracked open.
I laughed, sharp and breathless, tears burning hot in my eyes.
“Oh my God.”
“Congratulations,” the nurse added, voice warm. “We’ll book you in for a follow-up. But for now, take a breath. This is real.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, barely getting the words out before I hung up.
I spun on my heel and ran through the house. “Harlan!”
