The Vacation Of Reconnecting

| 8 |

The drive to the pharmacy was quiet, but Taylor's mind was anything but. Her thoughts raced with the memory of Poppy's innocent certainty. What if she's right? She gripped the steering wheel tightly, parking outside the store. It felt surreal to be standing in this position again, and she wasn't even sure what she wanted the outcome to be.

Inside, Taylor wandered the aisles in a daze, finally finding the pregnancy tests. She picked up a box, holding it as if it contained all the answers. As she headed toward the checkout, her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Travis:

"You okay?"

Taylor stared at the message for a moment, unsure how to respond. She wasn't okay, but she wasn't sure how to tell him that. Instead, she typed back a quick:

"I'll be home soon."

Once she paid, Taylor found herself driving the hire car, not home, but to the beach. She needed space to think, to breathe. The waves crashed gently against the shore as she parked, and for a few minutes, she just sat in the car, staring out at the ocean. Her thoughts drifted back to a time when she and Travis had been happy, when their life had felt full of promise. Now everything felt tangled in uncertainty.

She opened the box, the pregnancy test sitting in her lap, mocking her with its simplicity. Just do it, she told herself. Get it over with.

Finding a public restroom near the beach, Taylor took the test. It felt mechanical—her hands moved on autopilot, her mind racing in every direction but the one that could give her peace. She set the test down and waited, her heart pounding as she watched the seconds tick by.

When she finally looked at the result, her breath caught.

Negative.

She stared at the single line, her mind blank for a moment, before a strange, unexpected emotion hit her—disappointment. Taylor blinked, confused. She hadn't been sure she even wanted to be pregnant, and yet, staring at the negative test, she felt a pang of loss she hadn't expected.

Why do I feel like this? she thought, gripping the test tighter. She had convinced herself that a baby would complicate everything, that it might be too much for her and Travis to handle when they were still trying to figure out if they even had a future together. But now, looking at the empty result, she realized part of her had already started hoping for a different answer.

Her hand instinctively moved to her stomach as she tried to make sense of her feelings. I should be relieved, right? But instead, all she could feel was a subtle ache. She hadn't realized how much the possibility had stirred something inside her—something she hadn't felt in a long time.

Taylor washed her hands and threw the test away, her mind swirling with questions she couldn't answer. Why did I feel disappointed? What does that even mean?

When Taylor got back to the house, the sun was starting to set, casting a warm glow over everything. She stepped inside quietly, the weight of her uncertainty heavier than ever. Travis was sitting at the kitchen table, his fingers absentmindedly tapping against his coffee cup as he waited.

He looked up the moment she entered, his eyes locking onto hers. There was something cautious in his expression, as if he knew she had taken the test but was afraid to ask.

Without a word, Taylor walked over and sat down across from him, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. The silence between them stretched, the tension thick in the air.

Finally, Travis spoke. "So...?" His voice was soft, but the weight behind the question was clear.

Taylor took a deep breath, her eyes meeting his. "It was negative."