Page 116 of Baby Surprise for my Brother's Best Friend

Carrying a life inside me while the man who helped create it runs from the wreckage?

It’s a different kind of heavy. One that’s anchoring itself deep into my bones.

I squeeze my eyes shut, the ache in my chest growing sharper by the second.

He said he loved me.

He said he wanted this. Us.

But love doesn’t vanish when things get hard.

Love stays. Fights. Builds.

Alessio walked away.

And for the first time in a long time, I wonder if believing in him was my biggest mistake of all.

I replay the argument again and again, like a song stuck on the worst verse.

His face. His words. The fear hiding behind his eyes.

I don’t want to ruin your life.

Was that love? Or cowardice? The line between the two feels dangerously thin now.

I think of my mother, strong, grounded, full of quiet fire. The way she carried everything on her back while my father drifted further away, lost to his own selfishness.

"I won’t let that be my story," I whisper to the empty room, the promise curling into the air like smoke.

I grab my phone off the nightstand, my fingers hovering for a second before opening a message thread with Halie.

You up? I need you. Bad.

Halie:

Always up for you. What’s wrong?

I pause as tears prick my eyes again. I start texting back, fingers blurring, until my phone buzzes almost immediately

Halie’s name flashes across the screen just as my thumbs are still hovering mid-text.

I swipe to answer, barely managing a broken, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself," she says, voice sharp but softening. "What’s going on? You’re scaring me."

I press the heel of my hand against my forehead, trying to stay steady.

"I’m pregnant."

Silence. One beat. Two.

"Holy shit."

A weak laugh escapes me, brittle and painful. "Yeah. Holy shit."

"And Alessio...?"

I close my eyes.

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