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Then near the bottom:

I know this hasn’t been easy for either of us. Thank you for giving me time to get myself together. I really do feel like I’m getting better.

My anger disappeared so quickly. I had evidence in my hand. She knew something between them was changing. Maybe the grocery store hadn’t meant what I thought. Maybe y’all will be okay had been about getting through the separation peacefully. Maybe the ring really was just something Ravenna hadn’t been ready to remove.

I handed Caleb his phone. “I’m sorry.”

He took it. “I told you.”

“I know.”

“I don’t lie to you, Blair.”

I nodded. “I know.”

And after that? You couldn’t tell me shit about Caleb Whitmore. Nothing. Not Klair. Not Gabby. Not my conscience. Not common fucking sense.

I’d seen the proof for myself. Ravenna was getting better. The process was working. Everything we’d been waiting for was finally moving in the right direction.

Two months later, I woke up cramping.

“Ugh.”

I closed my eyes, annoyed that my period was starting. I had a site visit at ten and absolutely no interest in doing anything but sleep.

I reached for my phone, checked the time, then opened my calendar to log my cycle starting.

My period tracker notification was sitting there. I stared at it and frowned. I opened the app, looked at the date, counted, then counted again.

I was late and not by one day, but enough days too many.

My heart started beating harder. “No.”

I sat up and my hand went instinctively to my stomach. “No fucking way.”

Except there was absolutely a way. Caleb and I weren’t celibate. We fucked too much, honesty, and never wore condoms. His pullout game had always been good, but maybe he got lazy one day.

I sat there for another minute. Nervous came first, then excitement.

I got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and opened the cabinet beneath the sink. There was one test. Thank God it wasn’t expired. It was an extra that Gabby had left over when she thought she was pregnant.

I sat on the toilet staring at the box. My hands shook opening it. “This is ridiculous.”

I took the test, placed it on the counter, and set a timer.

I eventually ignored the timer and stared at it.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Then one line appeared. I stopped breathing. A second started appearing then it got darker and darker. Two fucking lines.

My hand flew over my mouth. “Oh my God.”

My eyes filled immediately. “Oh my God.”