“Get up and take a shower,” Heather said when she came into the house. I was lying on the couch under a blanket, curled up, my hand on my belly. It seemed like I hadn’t moved in days, hadn’t left the house or showered. I didn’t feel like doing anything, didn’t even feel like existing. I looked up at her, blinking.

“Why?” I asked.

“We’re going to Springfest,” she said.

I groaned. “No, Heather, I really can’t,” I protested.

Springfest was our local festival in the park. It happened once a year and was the highlight of the town—it featured carnival rides and live music, food trucks, and other activities in the park. It was always crowded with people, and it was the last place I wanted to go.

“We’re going,” Heather said adamantly. “You need some air. Go take a shower and get pretty.”

I looked up at her face and sighed. I knew that look. She wasn’t going to stop hounding me unless I did what she said.

“I’m only going for an hour,” I grumbled, forcing myself off the couch, my body feeling heavy like it was made of lead. I glared at her as I made my way through the hall and into the bathroom, stripping out of the sweats I’d been wearing for days. Stepping under the water felt good, and I felt myself come to life a little bit as I washed my body and my hair, which was tangled and messy.

I got out of the shower and got ready, surprised at how much better I felt. I still had that heaviness in my chest that wouldn’t go away, the knot that had formed the night Lucas had stood me up still hadn’t subsided weeks later. At this point, I didn’t think that it would ever go away. I felt like the hole inside of me that Lucas and Luna had left was too massive to fill, even by having my own child. I hated thinking about him and pushed the thought away as I slipped into the last dress I owned that fit me, a loose pale pink shift that looked good on my skin. I put makeup on, knowing it was something that Heather would insist on me doing, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I hardly recognized my own face. I’d spent so much time weak, tired, not taking care of myself, I’d grown used to my own haggard appearance. Now, I looked like myself again, and I took a moment to appreciate that before I headed downstairs.

Heather smiled when she saw me.

“Sexy,” she said. “You look so hot pregnant.”

I blushed. “I do not.”

“You really do. Your boobs look amazing,” she said, shamelessly eyeballing my chest.

I looked down, frowning. They really were bigger, swollen, and though the dress covered most of my body, there was nothing I could do about the cleavage that stood out at the top.

“Let’s go,” she said, taking my hand, knowing I was about to change my mind to go upstairs to find something else to wear. “You look perfect.”

“Okay, Heather,” I said, following her out of the house. I could hear the music from the festival already, some upbeat folk music that I would have liked had I not been in such a gloomy mood. I dreaded getting to the park to see everybody in our town, but there was something about the fresh air and the falling sun that was admittedly refreshing after my long few days inside the house.

We got to the park and I saw the colorful rides set up behind the stage. The band was just as lively as the music, dancing as they played, but as I started to walk in that direction, Heather stopped me and started to guide me the opposite way.

“What are you doing?” I asked her. “The festival’s over there.”

“I wanted to show you this cool statue I found the other day,” she said. She wasn’t looking at me. I raised my eyebrows at her.

“You found a statue?”

“Yeah,” she said casually. “I don’t know how long it’s been there—”

“Heather, you know every inch of this park. There is no statue.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s new.”

I stared at her as we walked. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” she insisted, and when I looked forward I saw that we were walking toward the gazebo. It was lit up in fairy lights that twinkled and in the middle, a table was set up with two candles that were lit.

“Are we going on a date, Heather?” I asked her. “I—”

My voice stopped suddenly when Lucas stepped out from behind the wall of the gazebo, his hands clasped in front of him. His eyes met mine and I froze.

“What—”

“Just hear him out,” Heather said quickly. I put my hands on my hips, turning to her, glaring.

“What the fuck, Heather?”

“I know he hurt you, Ellie. I know that. But this is on you, too. You’re running from him because you’re scared. Just listen to what he has to say.”

“No,” I said, turning my eyes to Lucas. My heart was fluttering madly in my chest just looking at his face.

“Ellie,” Heather said, taking my hand and squeezing it. “Listen to him, okay? He loves you.”

I swallowed, unable to take my eyes off Lucas. I started walking toward him before I could stop myself, and when I got close to him I reached up and pulled his mouth down to kiss me. He immediately wrapped his arms around me to pull me close but I pulled away, putting my hands on his chest and shoving him backward.

“Why are you here?” I asked him angrily. “Why won’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because I love you,” he said. “And you love me. And you’re having our baby, Ellie. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You say that now. You’ve said that before. And you abandoned me twice,” I said to him, crossing my arms. He looked over my body, his eyes settling on my rounded belly.

“The night I stood you up, Luna broke her arm,” he said, looking up and meeting my eye. “She fell out of a tree she was climbing. I took her to the hospital and forgot my phone. It’s no excuse,” he added quickly before I had a chance to say anything. “I should have called you. I should have called you right away from the hospital phone. I was panicking and it was stupid and it shouldn’t have happened. I am so sorry, Ellie.”

I stared at him. I was frustrated, angry to feel tears welling up in my eyes as he spoke.

“Is Luna okay?” I asked him.

“She’s fine. She loves her cast,” he said, then added, “She misses you.”

“I miss her, too.”

“So come back with me to the city,” he said, taking both of my hands.

I allowed him to take them, though everything within me was screaming that it was a bad idea. The part of me that loved him and craved to touch him was overwhelming whenever I looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity there.

“I can’t trust you, Lucas. Not again,” I said. “I don’t think I ever could.”

“That’s bullshit,” he said. The words caught me off-guard. I opened my mouth in surprise, then glared at him.

“What?” I asked him. It was the last thing I expected him to say.

“I said that’s bullshit. You don’t think you’ll be able to trust me because you won’t let yourself trust me. Even Heather said it—you run when you’re scared. And you’re scared because you’re in love with me.”

“I am not,” I said immediately. My first instinct was to deny it, to hope that the feeling went away.

“You are,” he said, dropping his hands to wrap his around my waist. “We’re in love. It’s scary. It’s fucking terrifying. But I’m not going to let you go.”

“Lucas—” I started, but he cut me off with a soft, sweet kiss. I stopped speaking when he kissed me again, then again before I started to respond, parting my lips for him to allow his tongue to taste me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, molding my body to his, giving in to what I wanted.

“You weren’t going to tell me you were pregnant,” he said after a moment. “Why?”

“Because I thought if we had to share custody and I had to see you, that it would be torture,” I said. “I didn’t think I could take it.”

“I want to be a father to our baby, Ellie.”

“I know,” I said, kissing him again. Something inside me broke and I felt tears sliding down my cheeks. He wiped them away, kissing the streaks, then kissed my mouth.

“Marry me,” he said softly. I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

“What?”

“I want you to marry me,” he said. “I want you to be mine, Ellie.”

I stared at him, unable to speak. I closed my eyes and imagined it, waking up to Lucas every morning, cuddling in bed with our baby while Luna snuggled up between us. My whole body felt warm at just the thought of it, and when I opened my eyes, I smiled.

“Yes,” I said to him.

He bit his lip, his face breaking into a wide grin.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said again. He wrapped me in his arms, hugging me against him as the music played in the background. It had grown dark around us, and the world was lit only by the distant neon glow of the rides, the fairy lights in the gazebo and the candles on the table. I looked around then, taking it all in for the first time.

“This is beautiful,” I said.

“I wanted it to be perfect,” he told me.

“You wanted to butter me up,” I said.

He laughed. “Yeah, I did,” he said. “Did it work?”

I leaned in to kiss him again. “What do you think?”

“I think there’s no possible way I could ever be happier than this,” he said, looking into my eyes. “I think you’ve changed my life.”

I took his hand, putting it on my stomach so that he could feel the roundness there, feel the life growing inside of me that he helped to create. He rubbed it, then crouched down and pressed his lips to my stomach.

“This is perfect,” he said, gazing up at my face.

“It is,” I said as he nuzzled my belly, running my hand through his hair. “Everything is perfect.”