Page 12 of Where We Call Home

I regretted not pushing past the weird tension and talking to him a little longer.

But my mind and body had other plans.

The fact that I wanted to stay—wanted to engage with him, despite my exhaustion—spoke volumes. I heard it loud and clear.

Despite that, I walked out the gate and chose to go home.

When I plopped into the driver’s seat, I let my head rest against the steering wheel, allowing the quiet to wrap around me.

Nights like this were hard.

I missed my friends.

I missed theeaseof saying yes to plans without a second thought. Pregnancy was isolating in a way I hadn’t expected. It was hard for people to understand how much my body and mind were changing.

Sometimes, when I looked in the mirror, I barely recognized the woman staring back at me.

Slow and steady wasn’t who I’d been, but things had to change at some point. I reminded myself—these feelings were temporary.

They would pass. I just had to push through. Because this baby—my little girl—would be worth it all.

Three

The party shifted to Boone’s cabin after his parents finally had enough of us “rowdy kids” keeping them awake.

If only they knew what we’d really been like as teenagers—thiswas nothing in comparison.

Boone, Mac, Logan, Penny, Aspen, and I gathered around the bonfire, the warm glow flickering across our faces as we drank, laughed, and swapped stories from our younger days. The fire crackled in the quiet moments between, embers spiraling into the night sky like tiny fireworks.

Back then, most of us hadn’t known each other well. Sharing childhood memories as adults felt like peeling back layers, learning each other one story at a time.

“Aspen, I don’t even thinkyouknow this,” Penny said, sucking in a breath. Her voice dropped into something sly. “Please don’t look at me differently.”

All eyes turned to Aspen, whose expression tightened with curiosity and a hint of apprehension.

Penny hesitated for dramatic effect, then dove in. “One time, I spent all night driving around with Jasper Martin. We ended up at the overlook, and… I let him get to second base.” She stifled a laugh behind her hand. “When he dropped me off, my dad was waiting on the porch with a shotgun across his lap.”

Aspen’s jaw dropped. The disbelief on her face waspriceless.

Looking around the fire, we were all equally shocked. Apparently, Penny had a side to her none of us had ever seen.

“Yourdad? A shotgun?” Mac asked, tugging at his collar like he was imagining himself in Jasper’s shoes. “Did the poor guy piss his pants?”

Laughter echoed into the night, but I wasn’t fully present.

My mind was elsewhere.

On someone who wasn’t here.

Theo.

Her bold style, her don’t-give-a-shit attitude—she’d drawn me in the second I saw her again after her return to Faircloud.

And I’dblown it.

I’d had a chance to ask her out, but instead, I fumbled through some half-assed attempt at flirting, let the moment slip through my fingers.

Now, she was stuck in my head.

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