FOUR WEEKS LATER
Even though Andrew was out of town, he kept in touch when he could. I hoped he was having a good time with his family, but I couldn't get him off my mind. He’d been gone almost a month, and I missed him more and more with each passing day. I enjoyed talking with him. I enjoyed the pictures he was sending me, the videos of Rebecca and how happy she was to talk to me.
It gave me hope that things might work out with us when he got back into town.
I didn’t know where things would lead, but I was grateful to have him. Nikki seemed on board as well, constantly teasing me about how she was right. But for the past two days, I hadn’t been feeling well. I kept getting headaches at work, and I was struggling to work with some of the recipes I used regularly in my bakery.
So, I decided to shut down and make an appointment with my doctor.
I figured it would be something easy to solve. I had to sleep off the flu or take some sinus medication or get an antibiotic for some sort of infection I’d picked up somewhere, but when the doctor came in with a smile on his face, I was confused.
Until he uttered those two words.
“You’re pregnant.”
My mind went blank. My heart stopped. The doctor started talking, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. He handed me a bag with stuff inside of it. A bottle of pills. Pamphlets. Phone numbers for something. He slid a sheet of paper in there that was highlighted, and I pulled that back out. I was pregnant?
Pregnancy: Positive. There it was on that paper in plain English.
I was pregnant.
“Do you have an obstetrician?” the doctor asked.
His question ripped me from my trance, and my mind jumped into overdrive. My last period. Oh my gosh. I was a week and a half late. I had to call Andrew. I needed to tell him what was going on.
“No,” I said. “I have to go.”
I slid off the doctor’s table and rushed out the door. I fumbled with my phone and opened up a text message I had from Andrew. He was back in town. Shit. Fuck. Okay. He was back in town. That was good. This was definitely not a phone conversation. This was a face to face conversation.
“Well, that was—”
“Can we meet for lunch?” I asked.
“Heather, what's wrong?” Andrew asked.
“I saw your text. You’re back in town. We need to meet for lunch. Can you?” I asked.
“Talk to me.”
“No. Not this time. Not over the phone. Please, meet me for lunch, Andrew.”
“Okay. Okay. That’s fine. Where do you want to meet?”
“There’s a sub shop next to my bakery. Can you meet me there?” I asked.
“I’m heading out the door now. Heather, you’re worrying me.”
“Just come on,” I said.
I hung up the phone and flagged down a taxi. Fuck me, I really needed to get a car. I threw some money at him and told him where to go and then jumped out of the car to head straight into the sub shop. I sat down in a booth at the back, put the bag on the table, and then slid the piece of paper out the doctor had highlighted for me.
I didn’t look up from it until Andrew slid into the booth.
“Where’s Rebecca?” I asked.
“I was able to drop her off for a half-day at school,” he said. “She wasn’t the happiest about it, but the urgency in your voice made me hesitant to bring her.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—I …”