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For me, for her, for us.

There was always time, I was just too lonely to want it. So I put my head down and let a whole lot of it pass me by. That ends. Now I have something I need all that time for. Someone I want to spend it on.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

SERENA

I wake up long enough for Jamie to get me to the truck. Then, he’s giving my thigh a gentle shake and we’re home. Everything is the same.

The dogs sit on the porch steps, tails wagging as soon as they recognize my face through the windshield. Instead of sadness, I feel something…new when I look up at the ranch house. I spent so many years here, wondering who I was, who I could be. Now, I’m at the beginning of figuring that out.

It’s not a prison. It’s a place I can come home to when things get to be too much.

“You okay?” Jamie asks.

I smile, unbuckling my seatbelt. “Yeah, I think everything’s gonna be fine.”

He leans over and kisses me. “I think so, too.”

We get out and meet the dogs in the yard. It’s so cold, we don’t linger. Coen appears on the other side of the door and pulls it open.

“About time,” he says.

The tension we felt on the phone is gone. That’s strange, but also welcome. Sabrina comes around the corner, absolutely glowing, and throws her arms around me. Surprised, I hug her back.

“You alright?” I ask when she lets go.

“Yeah, perfect.”

Coen leads the way into the kitchen. It’s cozy and smells of sourdough bread and butter, which is piled on a rough-hewn platter on the table. Of course, there’s a stack of mugs set up, ready for a round of coffee. Our family can’t get through a conversation without about eight cups. Right on cue, Coen starts rinsing out the drip machine.

“How’s the trip?” Sabrina asks, perching on a stool.

I lean on the counter, unsure how to respond. Something is going on, and I can’t figure out what.

“You want to step out for a second, Jamie?” Coen says, moving back down the hall. “Just while the coffee’s brewing.”

Jamie exchanges a glance with me, both of us bewildered. He goes after Coen, and the door slams. Silence falls, and I turn around to find Sabrina with her hands clasped, practically levitating off her seat.

“I’m a little—" I start.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurts out.

My jaw drops, a hundred emotions surging. “What? When? How?”

She laughs, covering her face. “I mean, I found out a few days ago. And it was sex, that’s how. How do you think it happens?”

“I mean, I just… Are you happy?”

She drops her hands. “Yeah, we’re really happy. I mean, it was kind of a surprise, but we slept on it, and we’re both really excited.”

“So this is why you were off when we called?”

She nods, sobering. “I mean, it was everything, but we were still in shock. Coen got us an appointment really fast, so they gave us an estimate of nine weeks—”

“Nine weeks!”

“Yeah, I haven’t felt pregnant yet.”