Elise squeezed my hand, her smile as warm as the fading sun streaming through the car window. "Now," she said, eyes dancing, "tell me everything. How far along are you? Have you had any cravings? Is it a boy or a girl? Although, frankly, with our genes, it's bound to be breathtakingly gorgeous either way."
A laugh broke from my chest before I could stop it—light, almost giddy sort of relief. I opened my mouth to answer, to tell her at least a sliver of the truth. But my phone rang.
I startled, fumbling it from my purse, the screen lighting up with BEST BROTHER EVER.
I frowned. He rarely called—he preferred texting or showing up unannounced with a bag of snacks.
"Go on, darling, pick up," Elise murmured, waving a graceful hand. "Our conversation isn't running away."
I nodded, swiping to answer. "Leo? Hey—"
The line crackled, drowning his words in static and noise so loud I had to pull the phone back from my ear. Shouts, the blare of a horn, his own ragged breathing.
"Leo?!"
