When the full moon came, she felt so sensitized to the pale light pouring like cream over the shadowed landscape she couldn’t sleep. Leaving her motel room, she walked outside while Power leaped and coursed underneath her skin, reaching for the moon. The next morning, disturbed and exhausted, she left for another hypnotically long drive.

She almost picked up the phone to call Josiah but managed to stop before she followed through with it. They had left things too raw at the end, but even so, he had spoken from a place of realistic, severe self-discipline.

If there was the possibility that she might be in danger, so was the baby, and like he said, careful investigations take time. When there were any relevant updates, he would get in touch. Besides, hearing nothing from him meant there was nothing to say.

That evening her phone lit up with a text. All thoughts of self-restraint went out the window as she lunged for it.

People may not change on a dime, but they do change when they are ready.

She sat on the bed, elbows on her knees as she stared at the phone she held in a death grip. Don’t answer. You’re not behaving rationally.

Her phone lit up again. Molly.

This time she could feel him waiting. He might be in Atlanta while she was in SoCal, but he felt close enough to touch. Carefully, she typed out a message and read through it. I meant what I said. If you ever chose a different path than the one you’re on right now, you would be so welcome to be a part of this baby’s life.

So welcome to be a part of mine. She didn’t add that.

She read through the text again. Did it sound sane enough? Like she was a lot more balanced than she really was? Oh, for Christ’s sake, stop second-guessing yourself.

She hit Send.

She and he were linked by an invisible wire. It drew taut, vibrating tension.

I meant what I said too. This isn’t goodbye. Be patient.

Be patient for what? So much dangled unresolved between them.

All he had ever said was that he would come find her. And that he wanted to support the mother of his child. He had enough decency that he didn’t want to be a deadbeat dad—and she had opened that door when she had told him about the pregnancy.

He didn’t know she had fallen in love with him, and she didn’t need to go flapping her damn mouth about it.