Page 124 of Meet Me In The Dark

This is someone seeing me. Really seeing me.

Julian appears at the bedroom door.

“Do you always keep fresh period supplies and luxury nightwear on hand for your overnight guests?” I ask, arching a brow like I’m unaffected.

I’m anything but.

“I had someone pick them up.”

“Your assistant?”

“No. I know you’re a private person. I didn’t want to risk some silly office gossip.”

God, that’s sweet.

“Who?”

“Lena.”

“Lena?” I try not to sound jealous, but it slips out anyway.

He catches it, of course he does. “Wes’s girlfriend.”

Oh. Right. That Lena. “That was very sweet of her. Did she raid an entire store?”

“She’s thorough, and I might have overestimated the list I gave her.”

“I should thank her.”

“I already did,” he says with a smile. “Ordered Rosie a treehouse. Wes will kill me when he sees them arrive to build it.”

My heart twists. “You really love that little girl, huh?”

“I do,” he admits. “What’s the point in having a niece if I can’t spoil her?”

Something shifts in my chest.

“Do you want kids someday?” I blurt before I can talk myself out of it.

“Never really thought about it. It wasn’t something I grew up imagining.” His eyes scan mine like he already senses where this is going. “Do you?”

The lump in my throat threatens to choke me. “I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. I love kids, but I’ve never had this pull to carry any of my own. Sometimes I think that means I’m not meant to be a mother, but I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet.”

There’s a long silence.

The kind where my own thoughts start to turn on me.

Where every insecurity, every buried fear I’ve managed to keep quiet, claws its way to the surface.

The part that wonders if “maybe, maybe not” is code for “never” in a way that makes me feel less.

Less of a woman. Less of a partner. Just… less.

I drop my gaze, fingers tracing the edge of the robe like it might give me something solid to hold onto.

“I know Dr. Patel told me to think about the surgery, but there’s nothing to think about. I can’t keep living with this pain. I need to do it.”

So, now is your chance to run.I want to say out loud, but I don’t.