Sitting back again, I chew my lip. Now I’m nervous. “Okay?”
Her voice is thickening, and I can tell she’s going to cry. “I pulled this stupid stunt, and… nothing happened. Nothing! We must’ve had sex a hundred times last month, and I started today just like clockwork.”
I begin to breathe again. “But that’s a good thing, right?”
She nods, but she doesn’t answer me.
“Hang on.” I roll my awkward self so I can put my feet on the floor and then scoot closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “What are you thinking right now?”
“That I’m broken?” She puts her head on my shoulder as the tears fall. “What if I can’t get pregnant? I really will lose him… then what will I do?”
At that moment, the show’s enormous musical performance erupts from the screen. We both jump, and I scramble for the remote to mute it.
My heart is thumping, but I go back to where she is, taking her hand. “I think you should talk to Patrick about it. He might want to wait on another baby, considering what’s happening with Kenny—”
“Yes, Kenny. She can have his babies.” She cries harder, falling into my lap. “He’s going to leave me for her.”
“Oh my god, he is not! For starters, Patrick doesn’t love Kenny, he loves you. And jeez, Lainey, it was only one month! Come on…”
Sitting up and shaking her head, she wipes her nose with the back of her hand. “I know it’s true. I can feel it in my gut. This is just what I get.”
“What you get for what?”
“For being jealous? For thinking evil things about Kenny and her baby…” She sniffs. “I actually hoped—”
“Stop. You have always been dramatic. Just because you thought something about your fiancé’s baby mama doesn’t mean you actually meant it.”
“I meant it.” Her voice is low and her chin drops. “I’m a horrible person, and now I’m getting what I deserve. I’ll never have Patrick’s baby, and he’ll leave me for her. Just wait and see.”
“What the hell! Of all the—I am never letting that boy leave town again! And you’re cut off. No more margaritas.”
She falls back on the cushions to cry. It’s possible she’s on a jag, so I try for counter-maneuvers.
“In fact, I might text him right now and tell him you’ve gone nuts, and it only took one week of him being out of town for it to happen.”
She flies back up then. “Don’t you dare! I don’t want him to know what I’ve done.”
“So far you haven’t done anything but play pregnancy Russian roulette and talk like a crazy person.”
“He’s going to leave me for her, Mel. He doesn’t know it now, but he’s going to take one look at his little baby boy, and it’s going to be over for me.”
Catching her cheeks, I lift her face. “Look at me. Yes, Patrick is going to fall in love with his son, but he is insanely in love with you. Nothing is going to change that. He’s drawn to you. He can’t fight it. You’re the candle, and he’s the moth.”
She blinks tears, and I pull her to me, rubbing her back. “Trust me. I can see what you can’t, and as much as I know Patrick would love it if you got pregnant, you need to include him in the planning.”
“I know,” she sniffs, holding my waist. “I want to believe that.”
“Then believe it.”
We’re quiet for a few moments as her sniffles gradually subside. My thoughts drift to the young woman I’ve only met once. “Why did Kenny call?”
Elaine sits up and grabs a napkin off the table, blotting her cheeks. “She needed him to cosign for her to get a car loan.”
I nod, pressing my lips together. “I thought it might be something with the baby.”
“No.” She fol
ds the napkin and then unfolds it again. “He called the dealer the next day and just bought it for her, said she doesn’t need to worry about a car note.”