"I missed you," I blurted out, unable to hold it in a second longer. "I missed you so fucking much, Molls."

"I missed you, too," she puffed out shakily, as she leaned against the side of my truck and held her side. "Holy crap, D. Did you have to walk so fast? I think I'm winded here."

"I'm sorry about that," I mumbled and then threw my hands up. "I'm sorry about everything, Molly. The lies? Keeping all of that from you when you had every right to know? Being an epic fucking douchebag? I'm sorry for everything, baby."

"I know," she replied, slowly catching her breath.

"No, you really don’t," I choked out, feeling so much for her in this moment that I could hardly believe that my heart could stand the pressure. "Since you've been gone, everything's gone to shit. I can't focus, I can't sleep, I can't fucking function without you, Molls. We're connected. We always have been. You're the best person I've ever known and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t wanna lose you, Dolly. Nowhere feels like home anymore. Because you're my home. And I know that I screwed up real bad, but I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get us back on track. Anything you want, Molly. Whatever you need. I mean that, because the thought of living one more day without you by my side makes me want to –"

"Daryl," she interrupted, looking truly terrified now. "Before we get into this conversation, there's something that I really need to tell you." A tremor racked through her small frame. "And I'm scared that you're gonna be really mad about it."

"What?" I shook my head. "No, I won't be mad at you, Molls. How could I?"

"Because I didn’t tell you sooner," she strangled out, hands moving the hem of her school sweater.

"Tell me what…" my words trailed off when she pulled her sweater over her head and revealed what I knew in my heart wasn’t holiday weight.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered, confirming what I'd thought, causing my world to tremor and shake.

"Yeah," I forced the words out, attention riveted to the round swell of her stomach. "I can see that."

58 Molly

"I'm pregnant.

"Yeah… I can see that…"

Daryl didn’t say a word after that.

He just continued to stare at my stomach like it was a foreign entity from outer space.

Minutes ticked by achingly slow, and still, he remained completely motionless.

"I'm not expecting anything," I added quietly, feeling beyond terrified by his lack of a reaction. "I swear that I'm not. I just…I had to tell you."

"That's not a small bump, Molly," he finally said, gaze reluctantly flicking to my face. "Is it?"

"No." Trembling, I shook my head. "I'm twenty weeks."

"Twenty weeks…" Blowing out breath, he ran a hand through his hair. "That's a lot of fucking weeks, Molly."

"I know…" Swallowing deeply, I clutched my little bump. "According to the dates, I, uh, would have conceived that first time."