Page 121 of Make Me Dream of You

Those weird little moments between Noah and Bex after the lake trip creep to the front of my brain, like they’ve been there all along, waiting for this.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll talk to him when I get home. I’m sure there’s an innocent explanation.

Still, my body knows something isn’t right. I push down the churning feeling in my stomach.

I trust Noah. I do.

Nonetheless, the gnawing curiosity in my brain wins, and I find myself swiping my thumb on the screen to scroll up and read their earlier text messages.

“What are you doing!” Macy’s raised voice startles me, and I drop—no, throw—Bex’s phone onto the coffee table before I can read anything else.

But she’s not talking to me. I look over to where she’s standing in the open doorway of the bathroom.

“Nothing,” Bex says in a definitely-not-nothing tone.

I come up behind them and Bex is sitting there, wide-eyed and frozen, a little white pregnancy test with a pink cap clasped in her hand.

“Is that a pregnancy test?” Macy gasps.

“No,” Bex says, hiding it behind her back.

“It is!”

“Uh-uh.” Bex shakes her head.

Macy barges in and pries it out of Bex’s grasp. “You’re pregnant?” Macy’s voice has gone up at least two octaves and a full decibel.

Holy shit.

“I don’t know, I was just a few days late, so I got a test?—”

“And you didn’t tell me!” Macy has forgotten how to not shout at this point.

Bex looks at me from between Macy’s flailing arms with a grimace.

“I didn’t even know you were sleeping with anyone right now. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You tell me everything.” Macy is beside herself.

“I’m sorry, Mace.” Bex shifts her eyes back and forth, worrying her bottom lip.

“Who are you sleeping with? How long has it been going on? Is it still going on?”

Bex is silent. She doesn’t want to say and now I’m counting back. The lake house trip was two and a half weeks ago. If she’s a few days late that puts conception right around that time. There’s a lump in my throat, my mouth suddenly too dry to swallow it down.

“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t a big deal.” Bex insists.

“Not a big deal? Who is it? Who’s the father?”

Bex doesn’t say anything.

“Do I know who the person is?” Macy asks. “Do you know who it is?”

Bex stands. “Of course I know who it is, Mace!”

“Then tell us.”

“No.”

“Why not?” Macy is red in the face.

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