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as
he fell asleep to her breathing steadily beside him.
    * * * * *
    Luke woke up to something frying in the
kitchen. Eggs.
    The door to the bedroom opened and in
walked Alyssa with a plate of scrambled eggs and an English muffin.
She was beautiful in her sweatpants and a t-shirt, and her hair
tied loosely in a bun.
    “ That smells great,” he
said. “You didn’t have to get up early to make breakfast in bed for
me.”
    “ I didn’t get up early,” she
said. “And I wanted to.”
    He ate some of the eggs. “It’s
good.”
    “ Can you imagine? This is
what our kids would do for us on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day,”
she said with a laugh, sitting down on the bed.
    “ Kids?” He stopped chewing.
He tried to swallow completely, but the food was stuck in his
throat.
    “ Well, we have been living together. I’m assuming this is where we’re
heading.” She looked at him inquisitively.
    “ We are, but we haven’t
discussed kids yet.”
    “ You don’t want
kids?”
    He looked at her but did not reply
right away. She looked worried. And he hated to be the source of
her concern.
    “ Alright,” he finally said.
“Let’s say we did have kids. How are we going to have time to take
care of them?”
    “ I’ll take maternity leave,
she answered without hesitation. “Or quit my jobs and stay home and
take care of the kids,”. “I really don’t mind.”
    “ Can’t we just try living
together for a while? We don’t have to plan all that out just yet.”
He leaned in to hug her, but she shoved him away.
    “ I’m not planning it all
out, but I at least want the possibility of being married and
having kids.“ Then, she added, “I don’t want to live with someone
who doesn’t want children.”
    Her words stung him like a slap in the
face.
    He stared at her, wondering if this
meant the end for them. She was breathing hard, her eyes
distraught.
    She stood up. “I need to take a
walk.”
    He started to get up, spilling the eggs
all over the bed. “Alyssa, wait.”
    She stormed out of the room, and onto
the balcony.
    He ran after her immediately. What have
I done? He thought.
    He found her standing there, her arms
crossed over her chest. The day was gray. He looked up. Dark sooty
clouds were starting to swarm the sky.
    Luke approached her.
    She turned around, squinted at him,
then turned her head away. The wind attacked her hair, blowing it
in all directions.
    He came closer, enveloping himself
around her protectively. To his surprise, she did not push him
away, but allowed herself to be overtaken.
    He felt the warmth of her head against
his chest. He discovered that she only reached up to his
neck.
    A cold breeze wrapped itself around the
couple, and he held her closer still.
    “ Why don’t you want kids?”
she asked, without turning around. “I would make a great
mother.”
    “ I know you would. It’s not
that. It’s just that we’re moving a little fast.”
    “ But you were the one who
asked me to move in with you.”
    She has a point there, he
thought.
    “ But we don’t need to plan
it all out right now,” he said.
    She tilted her head up, trying to look
him in the eyes.
    “ I’m 25. I’m getting old. I
want to fall in love with the right man. Get married. Have kids.
I’m not trying to plan it all out. I just want to know if there is
a possibility that you might want kids too. Right now, I’m not so
sure that you’re the right one for me.”
    Her statement caught him off guard. He
felt her slipping out of his grip.
    “ I am,” he said.
    “ No, you’re not,” she said,
shaking her head. “You‘re scared of something. Commitment? Moving
forward? Kids? Who knows?” She struggled to be released from his
embrace, but he held on tight.
    “ I never said I didn‘t want
kids.”
    “ You didn’t have to. I saw
how you interacted with that little girl back on the ferry, on our
trip to Qualicum Beach.”
    He was silent for a while. The only
sound was the traffic on the streets. There