| Haven |

Twenty Four: Agreement

Reese «

I stared at my ringing phone, I didn't expect her to wanna talk about it now.

"Hello?"

"Hey Reese. We should...uh talk about the letter. Did you read it?" My mother said softly.

"I figured I shouldn't..it was addressed to you and dad."

"I guess it's kind of obvious what it's all about. A child."

My heart sunk. I'm not sure why I convinced myself this was all a misunderstanding. It wasn't.

"Yeah...a child." I said.

"Reese I'm so sorry we didn't come to you about it. We were just waiting for the right time. It's not official yet, so if you want us to disrupt the process for the time being..I'll understand."

"No, no...that's not what I want mom. I just wish that you guys told me. I don't wanna stop you."

"I promise you, your life isn't going to be flipped upside down. We're still your parents, even if we have another child."

"So..can you tell me about the kid?"

—

Sierra «

I wiped the tears from my eyes.

After getting off the phone with my grandmother, despite me asking, I didn't want to have Reese leave. I wish I was strong enough to tell him I wanted him to sit here and hold me while I cried.

But it didn't feel right being sad in front of him. I hated being sad in front of anyone.

In the house I grew up in, crying only made everything worse. Crying made you weak, crying meant you lost.

It's not like I wasn't used to the way she was speaking to me. It was just the fact that..for the past two weeks I'd been living the 'normal' happy life, where you didn't have to worry about being attacked physically or verbally.

And that phone call was like a dose of my reality.

After crying into my pillow for what felt like forever, I was able to pull it together.

Sitting up, I looked at my phone next to me.

Reese:
hope everything is okay. I love you

The message brought a smile to my face, even with my dim mood.

It had been almost an hour since he left the room, so I appreciated him checking up on me.

I'm okay. can I come hang out with you?

He was typing for a minute, before I got a response.

yeah I have a lot to tell you. Come in here.

I got out of my bed, and headed toward Reese's bedroom.

I opened his door slowly, peering into the room.

"Why you being weird? Come in." He laughed.

"Your door usually isn't closed, I didn't wanna barge in."

"It was closed for a reason, but I'm done now." He said, inviting me to his bed.

"You know, you don't have to tell me EVERYTHING, right?" I said, sitting down next to him.

"My bad." He chuckled. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"I talked to my mom."