I look at the plate of apples and take a piece. “In the beginning, it was bad,” I confirm. “I lost about nine pounds and couldn’t keep anything down. I ended up in the ER twice for dehydration.”
“What?” he asks in a whisper.
“It’s fine, I’m fine, the baby is fine. Everything is hunky-dory,” I say, dipping the apple in the peanut butter. “The first trimester is over, so the doctor said I should be fine.”
“But you just threw up.” He points at the bathroom. “Is that normal?” He puts his hands on his hips and takes out his phone. “Should I call 911?” The panic in his eyes makes me forgive him just a touch.
“No.” I shake my head. “I’m fine. I just have to eat something. If I don’t eat snacks between meals, it makes me sick, which doesn’t really make any sense, but it is what it is,” I explain, taking another piece of apple.
The door opens, and I look over as Michael whips his head toward the door. “What in the hell is going on?” my sister, Julia, says, standing there with the door open and still in her hand. She looks at me and then at Michael and then back at me, her eyes big. “Am I interrupting something?” she asks, closing the door and coming in. “I’m Julia,” she says to Michael. He does a double take from Julia to me and then back again.
“Michael.” He nods, and I close my eyes when she gasps.
“Michael, as in…” I hear in her tone that she is just as angry as I am. “The sperm donor?”
“Wait, what?” I open my eyes and look at Michael, who looks at me, then back at my sister.
Julia ignores the look I’m giving her, and instead, she continues on her tirade. “The one who changed his number after a girl answered his phone?” She folds her arms.
“It’s complicated,” he defends, and I get up to stand in front of him, knowing Julia is going to go off on him.
“I got this,” I tell my sister and then turn to Michael. “Why don’t you go home, and I’ll call you later.”
He looks down at me, and I know he wants to refuse. “You have a lot to think about,” I say. “We can talk more in the morning when you’ve had time to let it sink in,” I reason, and he doesn’t move. “You know where I live. I’m not moving.” I throw my hands up in the air.
“Do you have a pen and paper?” he asks, looking at me. When I walk past him, I can see that Julia is standing there with her arms crossed as she glares at him.
I walk over to the bag that I dumped at the door when I walked in, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. “Behave,” I mumble to my sister as I walk back to Michael. “Here you go.” I hand him the pen and paper, and he walks over to the island.
“Can I have your number?” he says, and my sister snorts, then laughs.
“Classic.” She shakes her head, and I mouth at to her to stop it.
“It’s four, six, nine,” I say, and he writes it down. “Two, one, eight, forty-seven, fifty-eight.”
“Mine is fifty-nine,” Julia adds from the side. “In case you forget hers.” She dumps her bag on the floor and walks over to the cupboard to take out the bag of chips. She takes one chip out and chews it. She holds the bag for me, asking me if I want any, and I just shake my head.
I look at Michael, who takes his phone out and dials the number. My phone rings from where it sits on the counter. “Did you not believe her?” Julia asks him, leaning against the stove and glaring at him.
Any other guy would ignore her, but not Michael. He gets in the ring with her. “I was storing it in my phone,” he says, his fingers going crazy.
“What do you have her under? Jillian or baby momma?” She tilts her head, and he just looks at her. “And are you going to add her to your favorites?”
“I’ll call you later,” he says to me softly and leans down to kiss my cheek, and my heart speeds up. He looks at Julia. “It’s nice to meet you, and I look forward to getting to know you.”
“Smooth,” she says as he walks out of the apartment. The door closes behind him with a click, and all I want to do is ask him to come back because I’m scared I won’t see him again. Julia pushes away from the counter, her eyes going big as she moves to the door and opens it. She sticks her head out, then comes back into the room. “Oh my God,” she says, shaking her head. “Oh my God.” I get on the stool and take a sip of water, my hand shaking as I take a sip. “I swear I thought you hired a stripper,” she admits, coming over to the counter and looking at me. “That…” She points at the door. “That was your baby daddy?”