I hesitated outside Vanessa’s house, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across the front yard. The last time I was here, things had been… different. Tense, filled with lies and quiet desperation. But now, everything had changed.
Vanessa’s parents had finally opened their eyes, shaken by the whirlwind of media attention surrounding Professor Mitchell. The news had exploded with stories, with former students coming forward, with Vanessa’s name intertwined in ways no one could ignore. And in the chaos of it all, her parents had finally seen her.
Logan squeezed my hand. “You ready?”
I exhaled. “Yeah.”
We stepped up to the door, and before I could even knock, it swung open.
Vanessa stood there, her belly huge, her features softer than I’d ever seen them. Her usual sharp edges had dulled, replaced with something gentler, calmer. She looked happy.
A small, hesitant smile played on her lips. “Hey.”
I blinked at her, taking in the glow on her face, the way her shoulders weren’t tense anymore, the way her eyes—once guarded and full of secrets—now held something I never thought I’d see in her. Peace.
“Hey,” I said, stepping inside as she moved aside.
Sarah and Jake followed, but I noticed Sarah hesitated for a split second, her eyes flicking toward Jake. It was subtle—so quick that if I wasn’t looking, I might’ve missed it.
Interesting.
The living room was warm and welcoming, a stark contrast to the suffocating space I remembered. There were baby clothes folded neatly on the couch, a half-packed hospital bag by the coffee table, and a few ultrasound pictures pinned to a corkboard near the fireplace.
Vanessa sat down carefully on the couch, adjusting a pillow behind her back with a sigh. “You know, when I imagined seeing you again… I didn’t think I’d actually get to say thank you.”
I glanced at her, my heart twisting. “You don’t have to—”
“I do,” she interrupted gently. “Emma, after everything I did to you—to Logan, to Caleb—you still helped me. You didn’t have to. And I didn’t deserve it.”
I swallowed. “You deserved the truth. That’s all I ever wanted—for all of us.”
Vanessa’s hand rested protectively on her belly. “My parents finally believe me,” she murmured. “They apologized. They’ve been… here. And I never thought they would be.” She looked up at me. “You gave me that. You, Alyssa, Jake, Sarah. Even Logan.”
Logan gave her a small nod, his expression unreadable but not unkind.
Sarah leaned against the armrest of a chair, arms crossed. “Well, don’t get used to us being all sentimental. We’re still us.”
Vanessa laughed, and for the first time, it wasn’t sharp or bitter. It was real.
I felt something settle inside me—a finality, but a good one. We weren’t best friends, and we’d never undo the past, but maybe, just maybe, we had reached the place where we could let it go.
As we talked, my gaze kept flicking to Sarah, to the way she looked at Jake when she thought no one was paying attention. It wasn’t just casual glances—it was something else. A softness in her expression, a hint of something more.
And Jake? He wasn’t oblivious. I caught the way he leaned just a little closer when she spoke, the way his teasing had a different energy now—less brotherly, more… charged.
Oh. Oh.
I bit back a smirk. Now this is interesting.
As the conversation continued, Vanessa’s mom poked her head in, asking if we wanted something to drink. The way she smiled at her daughter, the warmth in her voice—it was everything Vanessa had been missing before.
Things had changed.
And for the first time, as I sat there in a house that once held nothing but tension, I realized that maybe we all had.