Page 62 of The Best Worst Thing

The Pavement

Gabe was gone.

The driveway was quiet.

It was just Nicole and Logan, standing there, counting the cracks in the concrete beneath their feet.

All of a sudden, they could see them.

All of a sudden, they were everywhere.

“Are you okay?” he said, pulling her into him.

“No,” she said, drying her face with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

“I’m so sorry. I was about to tell him. He came for this thing for work, we were talking about the baby.

I’d been so scared to tell him about us.

But the things he said, they’re not true.

It’s just, it’s all so complicated. It’s such a disaster, all of it. ”

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m right here. I’m not mad. I believe you.”

She closed her eyes.

“I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know if I can do this.”

“What?” His arms had fallen by his sides. Nicole, all of a sudden, was lonelier than she could ever remember. “Can’t do what?”

“This. Us. All of it. Any of it.” Her heart was cold. Numb. Surely, it was breaking. But she couldn’t feel a thing. “You have to understand. My life’s just a mess right now.”

He stared at her, frowning.

“Nicole,” he said. “It’s my life too.”