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I’d done this And I knew if I just let Reed in earlier, I could have avoided it all But I’d uilt, and rather than deal with it all, I got carried away in stupid fantasies I liked Gavin, sure He was sirls get stupid But he didn’t have ht, spilling ot his voice, at least not when you were throwing caution to the wind I told hi I told him how sorry I was that I’d been so cold toward hiuilty I felt now because I’d lost the baby I started crying harder when I adh me like a knife and forcedon words and heartbreak I told him about what really happened the day I fell froave e diagnosis--and about howturned into the worst decision of ed for hi left

And then I waited

As each hour passed, the fact that Reed wasn’t calling was hittinghi to force hirabbed ht it was better to let hih what he had heard and seen

I kneouldn’t be able to avoid Sarah and Sienna forever, so I texted them and told them to meet me at the Starbucks for coffee Sienna, always perceptive, knew so

No Not at all

I ed to take a shower and pull on soet chilly at night, and I wasn’t up for driving, so I planned on walking I was stuffing my keys and some cash in my pocket when my phone buzzed I was anxious and excited at first, but then I saas Becky Knowing I couldn’t put this off forever either, I answered while I locked up

"Hey Becks," I said, knoas co

"Hey…are you…okay?" She knew Thatto sohed "Becky, I don’t kno it got to this" Becky didn’t know the full story, and I didn’t think I’d be able to fill her in on everything, including the pregnancy, in the short walk to the coffee shop I was pretty sure Sean would know about it soon anyhow, though, and by extension, Becky

"Reed called Sean I’hed "Has he called you yet?"

"No…" I lingered "I keep waiting Actually, I got a little hopeful when you called"

"Oh…I’m sorry I’m sure he’ll call, Noles Sean said he was pretty tore up, but he got through to hiain, so I wipedpeople on the sidewalk now, so I tried not to give tooBecky knew…she was my only connection to Reed

"What happened, Nolan? Was this guy, like, just hitting on you all the ti? I mean, do you like hiivebreath and shrugged, even though she couldn’t see it "I don’t know I …and he’s smart His name’s Gavin, he’s in a lot of ether, and he’s always been flirty, but that’s it"

"Did he just blindside you? Ito understand

"Becks, I was pretty drunk I reht, a bunch of us were And you know o out…but it just sounded like so much fun And I was so stressed…you know, fro pool, and everything was fine And then there was a band, and ere dancing and then Gavin got close and ere dancing really closely, and he touched me a little, not like that, but still…it was pretty clear what he was suggesting And then I bolted"