“I don’t want something nice. I want a burger and fries, and a cherry limeade.”
“You’re lucky you’re so cute.”
Bowing to her command, he pulled into the Sonic and rolled down his window. “Is this really food?”
“Yes! Don’t be a snob.”
“Fine.” He reached over for the button. “We would like a cheeseburger—”
“Double cheeseburger, no onions, extra pickle,” she clarified. “And fries. No! Tots.”
“Right. That, plus a cherry limeade,” He looked to her for confirmation. “And then I’ll have… a grilled chicken wrap, and I guess I’ll try a frozen cherry limeade.”
When the food came, April sighed contentedly and leaned on his shoulder as she sunk her teeth into her burger. “Mm, God. I love how you humor me and my trash tastes.”
“You aren’t usually this bad.”
“Just wait. When we get back to your place, I’m going to make you watch garbage reality TV on Bravo.”
Samson kissed the top of her head and tried his drink. “This isn’t bad. It’s probably diabetes in a paper cup, but it’s not bad.”
“It’s fine. Ohhhh,” she groaned.
“You should’ve told me that I could make you come from a burger. I’ve never even seen you eat a burger. It’s always salads and spring rolls and the occasional bit of fish.”
“I don’t usually eat red meat. I just crave it sometimes when I’m about to… Um.” April stuffed a tot in her mouth.
“About to what?” Samson looked down at her in confusion and then chuckled. “Oh. Right.”
“What do you think you’re right about?”
“I have a sister and have dated a million women. Shouldn’t you have been craving a burger by now? We’ve been dating longer than a month.”
“If you’ve dated a million women, you know that some of us are sort of hit and miss with the timing of our burger cravings. But when I do get burger cravings, they are intense. I once had a clinic doctor tell me I should go on birth control to even things out, but I never had real insurance until now.” April wiped her mouth.
“I’m always safe, so you don’t have to unless it helps your overall health.” He stroked his hand down her shoulder.
“I have been looking through our network for a doctor. I’m overdue.” April picked off a pickle and ate it, enjoying the crunch. She didn’t usually worry about being a little bit late with her period, but now that she thought about it… She was very late. It couldn’t be possible, though. She watched him put a condom on every time. He was a fanatic about it.
The thought nibbled away at the edge of her consciousness for the rest of the day. It caused her to second guess every twinge in her body. It should all add up to hormones, but what kind? If it added up to a baby, what would Samson do? Was he still against having children? Would he leave her? Could she force herself to get rid of it, just for him?
That night, she lie awake staring at the ceiling and wondering what she should do. Of course, the obvious answer was that she should find out for certain and have a talk with Samson about it. That was the most rational answer. Part of her wanted to ignore it and hope that it was just her body being out of sync due to stress again.
Part of her knew. She moved her hand down her stomach to her lower abdomen. It was warm and firm and, in spite of her odd eating habits over the past week, mostly flat. But chances were, it wouldn’t be for long.
April slipped away Sunday afternoon, claiming she needed to take care of some things back at the apartment. It frustrated her a bit because she was excited to get started on revamping Imperial Apartments, but she couldn’t wait to find out if her life had changed.
She picked up the test in a convenience store on the corner a block from Lana’s apartment and pulled into a space next to their building with a squeal of tires. She ran upstairs and, finding an empty apartment, and locked herself in the bathroom. Roughly three minutes later, she sat on the edge of the tub, numb and dumbfounded.
***
It was hard to focus on anything now that April knew. Her top priority should have been finding a way to tell him, but somehow it had quickly become sorting out her loosest clothing and making sure that her coworkers didn’t suspect anything. Her second priority became finally finding a doctor and setting up an appointment.
Between that flurry of panic and decision-making and work, somehow another week and a half slipped by before April was able to devote time to what she should tell Samson. Truthfully, when she started needing to pin her skirts in the back because they wouldn’t close properly, she thought Samson might figure it out and say something before she could. However, it was still early and she wasn’t showing much yet. Aside from how swollen her breasts had become, Samson remained blissfully ignorant.
In fact, he seemed blissful all around. He had never seemed more content, even when she dozed off on him and they went to bed curled up together without the heat and sweat that had been common for them. Things were so wonderful with him. She didn’t want to ruin it.
“I don’t think I’d ever be interested in any of those things.”