Page 185 of Say My Name

Olivia: Answer the next call or I’m going to assume you joined a mountain cult.

The phone rings again.

I pick it up. “I’m not in a cult.”

“That’s exactly what they’d teach you to say.”

I let out a weak laugh.

Olivia’s voice changes. “There you are.”

I close my eyes.

She’s been one of my closest friends since college. She met Daniel while I was still with him, watched me rearrange my entire life around his, and stayed even after I refused to admit what he’d done. She knows what it cost me to rebuild everything afterward.

She’ll also know exactly why I’m hiding in Colorado.

My voice is barely a whisper. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“You took two weeks off and flew across the country alone. I’d call it fleeing, but you probably created an itinerary.”

“I didn’t create an itinerary.”

“Wow. You’re worse than I thought.”

I turn from the window and sit at the kitchen table. The wood feels solid beneath my palms. I take a breath, my throat tight, and say the words I haven’t said to anyone. “I’m pregnant.”

Silence.

Then, “Okay.”

There’s no panic in the word. No accusation. She gives me a second to breathe, and I need it more than I want to admit.

I let out the breath I was holding. “I took the test Thursday morning.”

“Does Dominic know?”

“No.”

“Elena.”

My name, a single weighted word that lands like a stone. My eyes sting. “I tried.”

“How?”

“I wrote a message, deleted it, and went to his office.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing. He looked up and saw me coming, and I waved like I’d only happened to be walking past.”

“That isn’t trying.”

The words are a quiet judgment, and they’re right. “I know.” The admission burns in my throat.

“Was that the only time?”

“No. I stopped outside his office later. He was on the phone, but I could’ve waited.”