Craig stared at Adriana like she had just placed a live grenade in his hand.
Marriage.
The word didn't just land, it detonated.
Not because he didn't care about her. Not because he didn't value what they'd built.
But because marriage meant certainty, and his life at this exact moment was anything but certain.
It meant choosing one path forever, while the other path:messy, painful, complicated, now had a small child standing at the end of it, looking up at him with eyes that mirrored his own.
It meant locking the door on anything unresolved.
And Craig had so much unresolved.
He swallowed, feeling the word claw at the back of his throat. Adriana's eyes were fierce and wet at the same time. She wasn't bluffing. She wasn't playing dramatic. She was asking him straight out:
Decide now or let me go.
Craig felt the weight like a hand pressing against his chest. He forced himself to think.
