SIERRA.
The drive to my mom’s place is quiet. I’m in an Uber since the insurance company is still processing my claim, which, by the way, makes no sense. Why are they painfully slow when it comes to payouts but lightning-fast when it’s time to remind you to renew your insurance?
I lean my head against the window, watching buildings blur past, and for the first time in a long while, I feel exposed.
There are No security gates. No driver who already knows where I’m going. No one opening doors, carrying bags, or checking in to make sure I’m comfortable.
There is no being tended to. No life where everything is handled before I even think to ask. There is no luxury wrapped so tightly around daily life that it became invisible.
I didn’t realize how used I’d become to Noah’s world until it was gone. Now I’m back in the real world. Uber rides. Waiting. Doing things myself. It shouldn’t feel strange but it does.
My bed last night felt wrong. Too firm in some places, too soft in others. I tossed and turned for hours, unable to find the comfort I’d somehow grown used to. I hadn’t slept in my own bed for weeks, and the absence of familiar sounds; the twins laughing down the hall, small footsteps padding toward my room, made the silence unbearable.
They always came to say goodbye before school and always stopped by my room first when they got home.
Last night, there was nothing. Just me and Blackie.
I rub my belly slowly, my palm warm against the curve beneath my baggy T-shirt.
“It’s just you and me now,” I whisper. “And we’ll be fine.”
“Did you say something, miss?” the Uber driver asks.
I shake my head. “No.”
He nods, and I sink back into my thoughts.
Unless I get married, it’ll always be just the two of us, and that has to be enough.
My phone vibrates, and when I check it, it's an unknown number.
I frown, then answer. “Hello?”
“Sierra!!!”
The sound hits me like a punch to the chest. Fuck. It’s only been a day, and I already missed their voices.
I laugh, breathless. “Oh my God. Hey, my loves.”
“Hey, Sierra!” they say at the same time.
“Not that I mind,” I say, smiling despite myself, “but how are you calling me?”

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