Million-Dollar Consequences

Fifteen

Aflash of lightning lit the bedroom and woke Meghan out of a deep sleep. Thunder rattled the windowpanes a second later as fat raindrops slapped the glass. Her eyes flew open, her brain clinging to the vestiges of a dream she couldn’t remember.

She lay there for a moment, her heart racing. Rain rolling down the windows was shadowed on the ceiling overhead. Anxiety coated her, bringing with it the uncomfortable sensation that she’d missed something important.

She shook her head, dismissing what must’ve been a nightmare. She rerouted her attention to more pleasant thoughts, like what had happened a few hours ago. Isaac had made love to her on the couch, their dinners forgotten. His hands had been everywhere at once and she’d let him do what he pleased, her eyes rolled back in ecstasy the entire time. He’d held and kissed her for a long while after they’d had sex. And then they’d sat up, reclaimed their forks and chatted while finishing off their dinner.

He was incredible. Incredibly hot and funny and...temporary.

Her smile faded. Maybe that was the source of her anxiety. Even though they’d planned for their time together to end, the closer the end came, the less ready she was to call it quits. She would miss him when he was gone. And not just the great sex, though she’d have to channel her sexual energy into something productive. She’d miss talking to him, too. Listening as he excitedly told her about his day. Helping him practice his lines. Sharing dinners and coffees or rare midday naps.

She’d miss him. All of him.

Remarkably, Isaac slept through the storm, his back to her, his shoulder exposed, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Would he miss her as much as she’d miss him? Would he miss her at all?

Giving up on falling asleep any time soon, she tossed off her blankets and padded into the attached bathroom. She splashed her face with cool water and was patting her cheeks dry with a hand towel when the sense of dread returned.

She thought back to the show they’d watched where Rachael had agonized over an unexpected pregnancy. Isaac had paused the episode often to discuss how he planned to honor the past between their characters in order to make sure the present-day material was authentic. Meghan had been less jealous than before, given the care he’d taken to set her mind at ease. She’d mostly been fascinated by his process and by how much was involved in rekindling a love interest on the show.

She wasn’t thinking of that now, though. She was thinking of unexpected pregnancies on a more personal level. She yanked open the cabinet beneath Isaac’s sink to find an unopened box of tampons staring up at her. Her heart thrashed as reality descended, thorny and mocking.

She hadn’t used a single one.

She hadn’t needed to yet.

She shut the cabinet doors with shaking hands. She’d been busy. She’d been stressed. She was as far from her normal routine as possible. A late period had happened to her before, and it hadn’t amounted to anything.

She tiptoed back into the bedroom to grab her cell phone from the nightstand. Once she was seated on the couch, memories of making love to Isaac returned. He’d used a condom tonight—he’d used a condom every time they’d been together save that first time. What were the odds?

Meghan wished she were the type of woman organized enough to track her period on her phone’s calendar, but alas. She searched online for “reasons for a missed period” and, other than pregnancy, there were actually a lot of them. Stress and routine upset were at the top.

Maybe it was nothing?

Chewing on her fingernail, she debated what to do next. Panicking wasn’t helping. Worrying wouldn’t bring a solution. There was nothing she could do until morning anyway. She watched out the window as the rain fell, trying desperately to blank her mind. Eventually, she must have, because her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep.

Hours later, she woke to a kiss on her cheek. Isaac was standing over her, dressed in gray sweats and nothing else. Sunshine streamed into the living room. The storm had subsided. Disoriented, she rubbed her eyes.

“You slept in here at some point, I see. Was I snoring?”

“No. The storm woke me up. Besides, I can sleep through snoring. Kendall and I used to share a bedroom.”

“Kendall snores?” Isaac tossed his head back and laughed. “Oh, man. I’m using that against her. You can’t stop me.”

She managed a pained smile as he padded to the kitchen. That same feeling of dread that woke her in the night coated her anew. She wouldn’t rest until she knew for sure if she was pregnant.

God. Pregnant.

“Coffee?” Isaac offered, holding up an empty mug.

“Uh, no thanks. Water would be better.” Especially if the unthinkable had happened.

“Out of the usual for you, but I’ll allow it.” He delivered a glass of cold water, teased her about how she should have woken him up if she was afraid of “a little rain” and sat down to turn on the show they’d stopped in the middle of last night. Brooks Knows Best, season ten, episode nine.

That quaking feeling returned to her belly as Rachael mentioned the “close call” with what could have been a baby for her and Danny.

Close call.

Had Meghan and Isaac had a similar close call? And if so, what the hell would she do about it? Obviously, she loved him, but a baby was next level. Plus—

Water glass halfway to her lips, she froze.

She loved him.

Because of course she did.

He had been her favorite actor when she was young, and he was one of her favorite people now. Isaac Dunn was a spectacularly nice guy with talent to spare. Roll in his epic kissing skills and the way he treated her in bed and out of it, and there was nothing not to love about him.

“I have to go soon. You good here?” He stood from the couch.

She nodded, but she wasn’t staying here. The second he left his apartment, she was going to leave, too. But rather than follow him to set, she was going straight to the drugstore to buy a pregnancy test.

Maybe two.