The Sweetest Game (The Perfect Game 3)

“I think so. My stomach is killing me and I threw up right before you called. ”

“Pregnant,” she stated in her typical teasing tone, but something in that one word caused my breath to hitch.

When the hell was the last time I had my period? Was it over a month ago? I can’t remember.

“Cass?” Melissa’s voice rang in my ear.

“Sorry, I’m here. Shit, Meli, you might be right. ”

“I was totally joking. ”

Intrigued by the idea, I sat up and leaned back against the plush headboard. “I know you were, but I’ve been really tired lately. Not to mention, stupid emotional. Like, I cry at everything!” I complained.

“Everything?” she droned, mocking my confession.

“Everything!” I said forcefully. “Commercials. A fucking tissue commercial wrecked me the other day. I had to go to bed to stop thinking about it. ”

Melissa laughed hysterically on the other end of the line. I wanted to reach through the phone and smack her. “Oh, holy shit. You totally are pregnant. ”

“Meli, I have to go. I’ll call you back. ” I hung up before she could respond and forced myself out of bed.

I needed to find a drugstore of some sort and buy some home pregnancy tests. Unless the hotel sold them, which I highly doubted. And the last thing I wanted was to run into a player’s wife or girlfriend while I was buying something like that.

Like an idiot, I talked to my stomach, telling it to settle down enough to let me find a store. And then I promised it that if it let me not be sick until I got back to the hotel room, I’d let it make me sick all night if it wanted. I really needed to be able to find a store, buy some tests, and not puke while doing it.

Luck was definitely on my side because there was a drugstore right across the street from the hotel. I’d never purchased a pregnancy test before, so was surprised to find an entire aisle filled with shelves of them. I decided right then and there that there was definitely such a thing as too many options. There were plus signs, pink or blue, one line or two, yes or no, results before your first missed period or after, and more. My head spun and I had no idea which one was the best to buy. So I purchased four.

I raced back to the hotel, my ridiculous amount of pregnancy tests stuffed into a paper bag. Closing the door behind me, I removed the first box. I read the directions twice before attempting to follow them. The first time, instead of peeing on the damn stick, I peed all over my fingers. I wondered what kind of woman could control the direction of her pee the way the directions seemed to expect we could.

After washing my hands, I hurried into the living area and found my bottle of water. I chugged the whole thing to give myself plenty of ammunition before scooting back into the bathroom.

“Let’s try this again,” I said out loud, giving myself a pep talk.

Miraculously peeing on the proper part of the stick instead of my hands, I set the test on top of the sink counter and poured the rest of the tests out of the bag. They all informed me that they weren’t one hundred percent accurate, so I should take more than one before going to a doctor for final confirmation.

Cell phone in hand, I stared at it, willing the minutes to go by faster. Unable to wait any longer, I wandered back into the bathroom and glanced down at the test, which was changing as I watched. The first window darkened and two lines appeared. It stated on the test that one line meant you were not pregnant and two lines meant you were. But it said nothing about a faint line. What did a barely there second line mean?

I scanned the directions and focused on the Frequently Asked Questions. It stated that the appearance of a second line meant that you were pregnant, no matter how faint or dark the line.

Pregnant.

Not willing to trust the one test, I took two more. All three yielded the same results:

PREGNANT.

Oh my gosh. I couldn’t wait to tell Jack. He’d wanted to knock me up since the night he proposed. I fought the urge to call Melissa back and tell her, dying to share my news with my best friend. But Jack deserved to be the first person to know.

I laughed out loud when I realized why I’d been such a crazy freak lately. Thank heaven I had a reason for my incessant sob fests. I wasn’t going insane, I was just pregnant.

With a baby.

In my belly.

Holy shit.

What if I turn out to be a crappy mom? I wonder how far along I am?

I hid the tests in the closet and fell asleep waiting for Jack to come back. When the door burst open, I jumped, the sound scaring me half to death.