Page 66 of Babies for the Big Shot
I wipe my hands on my thighs, then on a towel, then back on my thighs. Catching my reflection in the mirror makes me flinch.I look hollow, a version of myself fraying at the edges, barely holding together.
“Do you want me to check it?” Laura offers.
“No,” I breathe. “No, I have to…”
I force myself to lean in.
And there it is.
Pregnant.
One word. Clear as day. No ambiguity. No mercy.
I gasp, breath ripping out of me in a sudden rush. Laura stands, her face paling as she takes in my expression. My fingers tremble as I grab the second test and tear it open, desperate for some kind of loophole.
Two pink lines. Bold. Certain. Final.
The third test slips from my fingers, clatters to the floor unopened. It doesn’t matter. I already know.
I’m pregnant.
I clutch the edge of the sink, searching for something solid to hold onto, the version of my life from ten minutes ago. The version where heartbreak was all I had to face.
Now?
I’m heartbrokenandpregnant.
A sob rips through me, raw and unguarded. I collapse to the floor, knees giving way under the weight crashing down. My back presses against the cabinet as I curl inward, arms tightening around my stomach, trying to hold myself together against the coming storm.
Laura kneels beside me. No words. Just her hand finding mine, holding steady.
The silence stretches, heavy and complete, ready to consume everything.
“I can’t tell him,” I whisper eventually, voice splintered.
“I know,” she says, gentle as a bruise.
“I don’t even know what to do next.”
“You don’t have to,” she replies. “Not yet.”
But I do.
Because something is already growing inside me.
And it’s not just mine anymore.
It’s his, too.
Even if he’s already gone.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Nick
I should be working.
There are contracts waiting for review, a quarterly report that needs to be rewritten after someone in Finance, likely Reynolds, decided projected losses could be “reframed” for board optics, and a cluster of flagged emails from Legal that will only get worse the longer I ignore them.
