One More Time

If I'd thought my heart was racing before, it was really going now. If she were pregnant and Danielle was telling me the truth, I'd have two babies on the way. In that moment, I started to freak out about caring for two kids when I wasn't even sure I was ready to be a father. Especially not a single father.

“It was still negative,” she sighed. “I just keep hoping and praying this works.”

“Yeah, about that, Casey,” I said. “If this doesn't work, I guess we can hold off on trying for a bit.”

“Really?” she asked, sounding surprised. “Don't you need to hurry things along?”

I was torn. Danielle could be lying to me. If she was actually pregnant, the baby might not even be mine. Though she had a point earlier, if it were Adam's – or any chance it might be his – then he wouldn't have just sat there and let her claim it was mine. Not with so much at stake. Still didn't mean it wasn't someone else's, but she went as far as offering to let me talk to the other man. Maybe I'd just needed to accept that this child could actually be mine.

Before I could answer though, there was a knock at my door.

“Casey, I'll call you later,” I said, voice hushed.

“Okay...” she said, her voice trailing off.

She'd sounded hurt, and I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but whoever was on the other side of my door knocked again. I couldn't risk them hearing my conversation.

I hung up the phone and stood up. Crossing the room, I swung the door open, expecting my mother. Instead, I came face-to-face with Adam.

“Give me one good reason not to slam this door in your face,” I growled.

“Easy, brother,” he said, hands up and in a defensive pose. “I'm just coming by to apologize. I shouldn't have mentioned Casey at dinner, not with Danielle pregnant and all. Which, by the way, I just found out about tonight. So, I guess I have no choice but to concede the company to you then, right?”

His voice sounded too cheerful for him to be conceding.

“Why are you really here?” I asked.

“Just wanted to congratulate my brother,” he said. “Is that so wrong?”

I stared at him, waiting for the punchline. Waiting for the truth. Adam smirked and rolled his eyes.

“Fine. I guess I shouldn't congratulate you just yet,” he said. “We'll wait until the baby is born, because you never know what might happen, right? Especially since you have a side chick and all.”

“I don't have a side chick,” I said, my voice rising. “Goodnight, Adam.”

I shut the door before he could say anything else. I had nothing else to say to him, or anyone for that matter. I finished getting ready for bed, even though it was earlier than usual, and laid in bed for a long time, staring up at the ceiling, my mind a battlefield of conflicting thoughts and emotions.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CASEY

I woke up a few days later and couldn't get to the bathroom soon enough. My stomach roiled, and I was shaky and sweating. I generally felt like crap. I'd eaten some of Raya's vegan food and figured that was why. I dropped down on my knees in front of the toilet with no time to spare. All of that quinoa and other hippie garbage was coming up again.

As I prayed to the porcelain gods, my first thought was to blame the weird vegan food. It had to be that. Clearly, I wasn't built for the vegan lifestyle and required copious amounts of grease, fast food, and French fries.

But then, after throwing up everything I thought I'd eaten for the last ten years, and wiping my face clean with a cool, damp cloth, another thought occurred to me. A thought that sent a bolt of fear mixed with excitement coursing through my veins.

I could be pregnant.

I dug out the paper bag with the pregnancy tests inside of it, my hands trembling as I unwrapped one. My hands were trembling so badly, I dropped it twice before I got the packaging open.

Oh God, please let it be. My stomach lurched again, this time from nerves though.. I sat on the toilet and slipped the tester between my legs, peeing on the stick. When that was done, I sat there, waiting impatiently, my nerves jangling terribly.

I had no choice but to wait for the result. I kept an eye on the clock, feeling like the seconds were ticking by agonizingly slowly. I tapped my feet on the floor and drummed my fingers on my thigh. Waiting sucked, but I had no other choice.

Malcolm hadn't called me back since our very short conversation a few nights ago, when he'd basically told me we would stop trying for a bit if we weren't pregnant. I thought it was a really strange comment to make and I didn't know why he was feeling that way. I mean, we'd only been together a handful of times, and sometimes, it takes a minute for an egg to be fertilized. Why so ready to give up?

Was that his way of breaking things off with me? I didn't know, but something had very clearly changed if he was talking about not trying again so soon.