I startled when I heard heavy footsteps descending the stairs. Taylor pushed through the double doors, wearing only a pair of gray cotton shorts and untied boots. He froze when Pete pointed a knife in his direction.

Taylor looked at me.

“Don’t go near the food,” I explained.

Taylor stayed put. “What are you doing?” he asked, crossing his arms to ward off the cold.

I wiped my wet cheeks. “Talking to Pete.”

“But”—Taylor held up his hand—“no offense, buddy”—his eyes returned to me—“Pete doesn’t talk.”

I shrugged. “He doesn’t share my secrets, and I don’t ask him why he doesn’t speak.”

Taylor’s demeanor immediately changed. “I don’t share your secrets either. But that was back when you used to tell me everything.”

I hopped down off one of the stainless steel counters lining the wall and waved to Pete before taking Taylor’s hand. “Let’s go back up,” I said, tugging on Taylor’s wrist.

“Have you been crying?” he asked. He hesitated and then let me pull him back through the doors and up the stairs.

I could tell by his mannerisms that he knew something was up.

I shut the door behind us and leaned against it.

“Falyn,” he said, shifting nervously, “is this what I think it is? Because it was just one fucking disagreement. You can’t bail on me after one disagreement. And it wasn’t even a disagreement. It was a … passionate discussion. And last thing you said to me last night was that you were moving to Estes. If you’re going to freak out about it so much that you’re going to dump me, then at least let’s talk about options.”

“I’m not bailing on you,” I said.

His panic was heartbreaking.

“Then what the fuck is going on? Why did you sneak downstairs to talk to Pete at four thirty in the morning?”

I passed him to sit on the couch, using the hair tie around my wrist to pull my hair into a messy bun. “I wasn’t sneaking anywhere. I talk to Pete a lot in the mornings when no one is around.”

“Not when I’m here,” Taylor said, sitting next to me. “What’s going on, Falyn? Talk to me.”

“I need to tell you something.”

He visibly braced himself for whatever I was about to say.

“I can’t have children.”

He waited for a moment, and then his eyes danced around the room. “I … know?”

“If we take this further, if we move in together and then whatever comes next … it will always just be us. I don’t think you truly understand that.”

All of his muscles relaxed. “Goddamn, woman, you scared me.”

“Huh?”

“I thought you were dumping my impatient ass. You were just worried that I wasn’t thinking about you not being able to get pregnant down the road?”