Page 34 of Through the Storm

The wordreconnectedpresses into me like a bruise.

Lena laughs softly, not unkind, just surprised. “I mean, after that week, I kinda assumed…”

She trails off, but it doesn’t matter. The sentence finishes itself in my head.

After Ben disappeared.

After I partied too hard.

After I didn’t exactly wait around.

I feel my face getting warm, and Ben squeezes my hand gently, like he understands exactly how humiliating this feels to me. And he’s more than happy to shield me.

I’ve always liked to seem put together. In control. Pregnant at twenty with a mystery father doesn’t exactly fit the brand.

My smile tightens. “Well,” I say, too quickly, “we did. He had to beg me for a second chance, obviously.”

Ben’s mouth twitches like he’s fighting a smile.

“Yes, obviously. I spent months begging for mercy. And then when she finally agreed, I got even luckier.”

The girls nod, exchanging glances that are subtle but loaded. Not judgmental, just mentally rearranging a story they thought they already knew.

“Well,” Geeta says, recovering. “Congratulations. Seriously.”

“Yeah,” Jess adds. “That’s… huge.”

Ben steps in again without missing a beat. “Thank you, we’re very excited.”

“Aww. We are too, Katy. Really.” Geeta adds, almost apologetic. Like she knows they made it weird.

A few more polite words are exchanged that I don’t register. I think someone mentions the weather. Someone else says they should get going. Then suddenly they’re gone, disappearing into the crowd likethey didn’t just upend my entire sense of self.

Ben exhales once they’re out of earshot. “That was… something.”

I nod, my smile brittle. “Yeah.”

“You okay?” he asks, glancing down at me.

I look up at him. At his open face. At the certainty he wears so effortlessly. At the way he saidI’m the dadwithout missing a beat.

“I’m fine. You didn’t have to say that, you know.”

He shrugs. “I know. I wanted to.”

“Ben. We’ve discussed this. I don’t…”

“I know we don’t know who the biological dad is yet,” he says. “That doesn’t change the fact that I want another chance with you. And now that chance includes the kitten too.”

I open my mouth to argue back, but I close it almost immediately. I don’t even know what else to say to him right now.

As much fun as I’ve been having with him, something has shifted. Everything seems so easy to Ben. Like wanting us is the easiest decision he’s ever made. He doesn’t know how much he’d have to sacrifice for that.

He also doesn’t know I would never let him do that.

Logan is standing on the porch when I get home from dinner at Ella’s, hands shoved into his pockets like he’s been waiting a while.

Wonderful.