Falling for Trouble

He completely stopped drinking. He was cleansing his body of all impurities, trying to clear his head in the process. He felt like a piece of shit for shutting Sophia out, but everything she told him kept replaying in his mind over and over again.

How in the fuck could he not remember sleeping with the woman he was in love with?

He trusted Kid with his life, but fuck, this was so fucking insane it was hard to grasp his mind around it.

Running harder and faster, he circled the lake for the twentieth time. A woman with one of those running strollers crossed paths with him, and he couldn’t help but glance down at the baby inside. Although he couldn’t see the child because of the sunscreen, he could hear a tiny cry as she passed him.

It was a lot to take in, and all he wanted to do at the moment was run until he couldn’t run anymore.Several weeks laterSophia sat in the waiting room and twisted her hands together. There were a few other people also waiting, two women with their boyfriends or husbands by their sides, one girl who couldn’t be more than sixteen, and another who was around her age and alone as well.

The women who had their male counterparts with them were very pregnant. Their round bellies protruded under their tops, and Sophia placed her hand on her own stomach. While hers was still flat, she imagined herself with a big, round belly. Even after she had time to comprehend it all, it was still so surreal.

She grabbed a magazine, one that had a smiling pregnant woman on it. The cover said something about being fit and pregnant.

After the incident with Abe, she tried to call him a few times, but it was clear he wasn’t ready. She didn’t know how long it would take him to get through it all, but at least she had finally been honest with him. She might not have been able to tell him about their drunken night of sex, but Sophia would continue to try, no matter how long it took him to listen. Giving Abe space was the hardest thing she had ever done.

“Ms. Kidd?”

Sophia looked up. An older woman wearing SpongeBob scrubs smiled at her and gestured her to come forward. After putting the magazine down, she grabbed her purse and followed the nurse to the back. First, she was weighed and instructed to put on the required paper gown, and then Sophia could do nothing but wait for the doctor to come in.

Sitting in the cold exam room, all she could think about was what Abe was doing and how she wished he was experiencing this with her. In the three weeks since he left her house and refused to talk to her, Sophia quit her job at the bar and found one as a secretary for a dental clinic in the next town over.

The drive was only about twenty minutes, and there were a lot of perks that she hadn’t been offered working at Tiny’s. She now had health insurance, made more money, and was able to sit down, which would be a godsend when she was big and fat.

There was a knock on the door, and then the doctor pushed it open and smiled at her. This was her second appointment, the first one being the initial visit where they confirmed she was indeed pregnant. This appointment was a little more special though.

Today, she would get an ultrasound and actually get to see her baby—the bean-shaped creature that was growing inside her anyway.

“How are you, Sophia?” Dr. Smith sat down beside her and started typing on the mini-sized computer she carried around. She swiveled around on the small black rolling chair with a wide grin on her face. “You ready to see your baby and hear the heartbeat?”

“Absolutely.” Sophia couldn’t help the excitement in her voice despite the fact that she wished Abe was there to share it with her.

“Go ahead and lie back, and put your feet in the stirrups.”

Once Sophia was positioned and the doctor had the cold, lubed-up instrument where it needed to be, she turned her head and watched the small screen. At first, all she saw was black and gray, but then there it was, the tiny flickering on the monitor.

The doctor tapped on some buttons, and then the whooshing and thumping sound of her baby’s heartbeat filled the room. Tears welled in her eyes. She propped her head up with her arm and watched the screen.

“Now, I’m just measuring the baby, making sure the due date is accurate.” More clicking and tapping from the doctor on the machine. “Here are the little arms and legs.” She pointed out the areas. “This is the face, and right in the center is the heart.” Sophia focused on that small flicker and didn’t bother wiping away her steadily flowing tears.