page48 (1/1)

“When are you going to get better?” Katie asked “Iwith you”

I laughed “I have to say, I’ sick too I’ And to make matters worse, I’ve had to add nausea to the list permanently”

Katie frowned “Are you nauseated every day?”

I nodded “It’s a bitch”

Katie hesitated a monant?”

My stomach dropped I shook my head “It can’t be, there is no way”

“Well, at least you can cross that off your list”

She carried on talking, but I barely heard what she said In my mind, I did the ure out how long it had been, but with everything going on, I hadn’t paid attention to my cycle I had to anchor ure out the dates

According to o Which meant I had missed a period

My vision swahtheaded This couldn’t be, could it? Every tiht back to the first ti had been messier than it should have been Was it possible that the condoet out of the office before someone discovered us that I doubted Brett had paid attention It wasn’t like I would have checked the condom either way

My ears were ringing, and it was difficult to listen to what Katie had to say It wasn’t inant, and now that I had worked out the dates, I was starting to panic

“I have to get going,” I said to Katie toward the end of our lunch I had tried to hold out as long as possible, but I couldn’t think straight anyht away If I was pregnant with Brett’s baby, everything would change Suddenly, my mom popped into my ht choices instead of throwing nant too soon Twenty-six wasn’t nineteen, but if the pregnancy was unplanned, did it reallythat Brett stood to lose? Was he going to stick around the way he had toldto disappear the way my father had? The way he had already done for a few days now?

“Are you okay?” Katie asked when I said goodbye

“I’ really sick” It wasn’t even a lie I felt like I was going to throw up

“Get your boss to give you a day off, you look like you need it”

I nodded absently and walked out of the restaurant to nancy tests When I was at the counter to pay, I felt self-conscious I was sure everyone in the store would recognize e of the paper less than teeks ago I was sure they would shun nancy test But it was all in my mind Not even the cashier looked at me, and I walked out of the store as if I were any other ordinary person How quickly the world moved on

I still had half a day left at the office, so I couldn’t go honancy test either I had heard before that taking the test in thewas the best, but I wouldn’t be able to hold out that long I grabbed a bottle of water and headed to the ladies’ room

After peeing on the first stick, I sipped water and tried not to throw it all back up I was so nervous I didn’t knohat to do withsilly, that there was no way I would be pregnant But I would only be lying to nant, and if that was the case, I had no idea what I was going to do

When it was finally time to look at the first stick, after what felt like forever, I grabbed it and forced myself to look at the littleI had to rip off the Band-Aid or I would never get there It had a dark plus sign, and I felt like I was going to faint Maybe it was a false reading, I thought I hoped I walked back into the stall and peed on the second stick This ti at it I checked the test right away In showed up I hadn’t even had to wait for the allotted tinant