Nina The cool air and the quiet campus had always been a comfort to me. But even the cool evening breeze couldn’t lift the heaviness weighing down on me as I fled the hockey arena. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I was running, but I knew I had to. My feet carried me across the empty athletic fi
“But he needs me,” I shot back, sighing heavily. “He needs me, maybe more than he even realizes, and I’ve been totally blind to it.” The water of the stream suddenly blurred, distorted by the new flood of tears. I felt so overwhelmed, the weight of my ignorance pressing down on me like a thousand-
The server came over, a familiar face who greeted us with a forced smile. “The usual?” “Yeah,” Enzo responded, handing back the menus. She nodded and left us alone, with nothing but the tension that we had brought in with us. “I’ve been thinking,” I began, twirling a napkin in my hands. “About w
“Because,” I paused, searching for the right words. “If we’re going to make these sacrifices, these huge life changes, I need to know it’s what we both want. And with everything else going on…” He looked at me, his eyes softening. “Nina, I want this child. But I can’t sit by and watch you and the
Nina It wasn’t long before I realized where Enzo was taking us: into town, and to the diner, the location of many a late-night date. “I should’ve known,” I murmured with a half-hearted smile as we slid into our regular booth. “It’s been a little while,” Enzo said, his eyes scanning the m
It was as if the air got thicker around us. Our milkshakes started to melt, the fries growing cold, but neither of us moved. The jukebox switched to another song, filling the space between us. “So what do we do?” I finally asked, my voice a mere whisper. “I wish I knew,” Enzo responded, his
Nina We finally broke the tension by taking a sip of our milkshakes and digging into the fries. Somehow, the act of eating felt like an unspoken agreement to a truce—at least temporarily. “You know, I’m good with your stipulations,” Enzo said, catching my eye across the table. “And I’ll make
“And Enzo,” I said, catching his eye one last time, “I mean it about keeping an eye on you. We’re both struggling, and we owe it to ourselves, and to our baby, to get the help we need.” He nodded, his eyes never leaving mine, and in that moment, I felt a strange combination of hope and dread, of