Page 22 of Not Because You Loved Me

Two Days Later

For forty-eight hours, the silence from the Prescotts had been absolute. It felt as if the entire family had simply ceased to exist, leaving me in a bizarre, hollow limbo.

So, I made my move. I called Mark and accepted the four-month emergency contract with Zurich, and received my flight information shortly after. If I was going to bleed out over a life I thought I was building, I was going to do it thousands of miles away, surrounded by high-level sports medicine and a schedule so brutal I wouldn't have time to think.

Now, my living room was a minefield of open suitcases, vacuum-sealed bags, and bubble wrap.

I was kneeling on the floor, shoving a stack of sweaters into a duffel bag, when a knock echoed off the front door.

My heart did a traitorous, familiar jump. I stood up, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Trent stood on the porch.

He looked like a man who had survived a crash landing. The look from two days ago was completely gone. Dark, bruised shadows sat heavy beneath his bloodshot eyes; his hair was a messy disaster, and his posture was so slumped he looked physically diminished. Stripped of every ounce of pride, he just stood there, looking at me as if I were his last thread to sanity.

Then his gaze drifted past my shoulder, catching on the half-packed suitcases lining my hallway.

His face drained of colour. "Kat... what is all this?"

"I'm leaving," I said quietly, stepping back to let him in. "My flight is tonight."

"Tonight?" Trent rasped, his voice cracking as he stepped into the entryway, staring at the luggage like it was a physical threat. "No... no, Kat, please. I… I was coming back, I was going to come straight back after I left my parents, but it felt like my universe blew up. I spent two days driving around, just trying to get my head straight, so I didn't say the wrong thing to you..."

"Trent," I sighed, folding my arms. "You don't owe me an explanation for going silent. We aren't together."

"I do owe you!" he choked out, stepping closer, his hands shaking at his sides. "I owe you everything, Kat. I came here to tell you the truth. All of it."

He took a deep, shuddering breath, looking down at his boots before forcing his eyes up to meet mine.

"The test," Trent whispered, his jaw working as he fought through the shame. "The test I found in October... I know it wasn't yours."

I blinked, taking a slow step back. "What?"

"It was my mom's," he confessed, the words spilling out of him in a desperate, broken rush. "She took it in your guest bathroom when she came over to drop off your favourite baked goods. My dad had a vasectomy when Gid and I were little, Kat. She panicked. She hid the test in your trash because she was scared to tell my dad, and then... and then I found it."

The words hung in the air between us, my mind trying to process the absolute absurdity of what he had just revealed.

"Your... mom's?" I repeated, my brain refusing to process the sentence. "Cynthia is pregnant?"

"Yes," Trent rasped, rubbing a hand over his face. "Her blood pressure dropped at your house because her pregnancy is high-risk. She finally broke down and confessed to my dad, and they told us. My dad did not know. Nobody had any idea."

I stared at him, my mind piecing together the timeline with sickening speed. The nausea Cynthia complained about months ago. Her dizzy spell on my couch.

"She took a test in my house... and you found it," I murmured, "That doesn't change the fact that you never asked me."

"I know," Trent choked out, tears finally spilling over his dark eyelashes. "I know how stupid I was, Kat. I sat on that secret, convincing myself I was stepping up, being the man I was supposed to be... and I built a whole fantasy around a lie. I was so blind. I was so scared of losing you or doing the wrong thing that I destroyed the best thing that ever happened to me."

He took another step toward me, his eyes begging for mercy.

"I love you, Kat. You are my best friend. You are the only woman I have ever loved, and I am so, so sorry that I didn't see what was right in front of me. I am so sorry I didn't just ask you."

I felt the painful ache in my chest expand, but I didn't move toward him. I kept my distance, my boundaries holding firm despite the tear tracking down his cheek.

"Trent... I am glad your mom is getting the medical care she needs," I breathed, my voice tight with emotion. "And I appreciate you finally telling me the truth. But this doesn't fix us."

His face fell. "Kat..."

"You didn't trust me," I reminded him, my voice trembling. "You found a test in a trash can and spent three months treating me like a vessel for an obligation instead of a partner you trusted. You proposed to me out of duty. Knowing the test belonged to your mom doesn't change the fact that what we had was an illusion."