Page 149 of Through the Storm

“I still can’t believe you made a whole human.” She brushes a finger over his cheek.

“I mostly laid down a lot,” I say. “Highly recommend.”

Rebecca immediately chokes on her mimosa. She coughs once, then starts laughing. “I’m sorry,what?”

Ella blinks. “Rebecca.”

Rebecca wipes her mouth, still grinning. “You mean you just starfished? Poor Ben.”

Ella blinks. “Oh my God. Please stop this conversation right now.”

I drop my face into my hands. “Ugh. I meant while I was growing a human.”

Rebecca raises her glass. “And while that was happening, Ben was… doing a lot of cardio.”

Ella loses it.

Mini Ben is smiling in his car seat beside me, completely unbothered by clinking glasses or Rebecca’s volume. I sip my mimosa slowly, carefully, and feel… like a normal human. Like myself.

“I missed this.” Ella smiles. “Us.”

“Same,” I say. “I was scared it would feel different.”

Rebecca lifts her glass. “It is different, now we have the cutest plus one.”

Ella tilts her head with a suspicious smile. “Can I ask you something? And you can’t deflect.”

I raise an eyebrow. “That’s a terrifying opening.”

“You’ve publishedbooks, Katherine? And you haven’t told us?”

I roll my eyes so hard I nearly pull a facial muscle. “Are you kidding me? Ben is such a gossip.”

“It wasn’t Ben.” Ella is already grinning. “It was Declan. He was practicallybeaming. Total big brother moment.”

“Ugh, seriously?” I pick up my mimosa. “Can you guys keepsomething from each other for once in your life? Keep the mystery alive?”

Rebecca sets her glass down. “We read them. They’re amazing. You should use your real name now.”

I stare at her. “Hard pass. I have absolutely zero interest in putting myself out there like that.” I pause. “Also, my parents would have a heart attack.”

“We don’t care what they think anymore,” Ella says.

I look at her. “I guess you’re right. But there’s a lot of sex scenes, and I’m not ready for round two of being the talk of the town.”

Rebecca raises her glass. “Fine, we’ll work on your fear of judgement. But for the record, your books are extremely good, and I looked it up and you havefour point eightstars.”

“I do.”

“Which is honestly impressive,” Ella says. “Especially considering you wrote all those sex scenes before you ever had sex.”

I groan.

Rebecca nearly chokes on her champagne. “Wait. Seriously?”

“Please stop talking.”

“But how did you get all the details right?” Rebecca demands.