Close to You (Fusion 2)

I’m exhausted too. Even though I just got out of bed an hour ago, I could already use a nap. Some of that might be emotional exhaustion, but it’s very unusual for me.

“Aunt Cami?”

“What?” I shake my head, pulling myself out of my thoughts.

“I asked you a question.”

“Sorry, can you ask again?”

He frowns. “You’re seriously weird today.”

“I guess I might be about to get a visit from Mother Nature,” I reply with a shrug, and that makes him raise his hands in surrender and back toward the front door.

“And, I’m out. Girl talk like that is disgusting.”

I laugh and shake my head as he leaves. That’s most likely the solution. I do sometimes get sleepy around that time of the month, and Lord knows I can be bitchy.

That’s got to be it.

I take our plates to the sink and rinse them, then stop cold.

Wait.

“Oh God, no.” I run out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the bedroom and fish around in the vanity drawer for my pills.

I finished the pack almost two weeks ago. But I never got my period. Which means I didn’t refill them and start taking the new ones because I didn’t get my period, which reminds me to get the motherfucking pills.

“I can’t be pregnant,” I say to Scoot, who has just wandered into the room behind me to see what in the world I’m doing. “I would have had to get pregnant while I was still taking the pills, and that’s not possible.”

I bite my thumbnail and pace my bedroom.

“Is it?”

Oh God.

“Okay, Cami, calm down. You’re not a teenager for God sake. You’re a grown woman in a loving relationship.”

Don’t tell Landon!

I shake my head. No way. What if it pisses him off? Scares him?

Wait.

He’s also an adult.

“Go talk to Landon,” I tell myself, and swiftly change my clothes, paying no attention in the least to whether or not what I’m wearing matches. I’m wearing a bra and pants, for fuck sake, that’s all that matters.

This is a good plan. Landon will know what to do. Or maybe I should just call one of the girls because if it’s a false alarm, there’s no reason to freak Landon out.

But if the tables were turned and he went to a friend before he came to me, I’d be pissed.

So I should just go. Right now.

I slide my feet into flip-flops, not giving two shits that it’s mid-March in Portland, grab my purse and keys, and drive the short distance to Landon’s house.

I march up to the door and knock before I chicken out and run back home.

After what feels like hours, Landon opens the door.

“I think I fucked up.”

His face softens and he shakes his head while opening the door wider so I can come inside. “No, babe. It’s okay. We’re going to fight now and then, and I know that you love Steven.”

“What?” I look around, like he’s talking to someone else, then realize that we’ve already had a doozy of a fight this morning. “Oh, that! No. I mean, yes, I shouldn’t have said what I did to you, but that’s not why I’m here.”

“Are you wearing flip-flops?”

“Will you please focus?” I demand, and pace into his living room.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m late.”

“For what?” He frowns. “And if you’re late, why are you here?”

“We are having a serious communication issue today,” I mutter, and scrub my fingers over my forehead. “I’m late.”

His jaw drops for a moment, but he recovers quickly, swallows, and says, “Okay, we need to go to the pharmacy.”

“For what?”

He smiles gently, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation.

“We need to get a test, baby. I don’t have any rabbits handy and I’m not psychic.”

“Oh! Right.” I nod. “Why are you so calm?”

He smiles and takes my hand, kissing my knuckles, and leads me out to his car. “Because there’s no need to be anything but calm.”

Except, there could be. And then what?

“WE’VE BEEN STANDING in this aisle for ten minutes,” I say as Landon reads the back of a purple box. He’s read every single brand there is. “They’re all pretty much the same, Landon.”

“How many have you taken in the past?” he asks, not looking up from the box.

“None.”

“Right, so you’re an expert.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m a woman.”

“I’ve noticed.”

Okay, now he’s just being difficult.

Finally, he drops one of each brand into the basket and guides me to the check out.

“You’re getting all of them?”

“Yes.”

I keep my mouth shut as we make our way to the register.

“That’s a lot of pregnancy tests,” the older woman says with a laugh as she begins ringing them up and tossing them in bags. “You know, they’re all basically the same.”

“That’s what I said!”

Landon just smiles and shakes his head at the lady. “We’re fine.”

“It’s your money,” she says with a shrug. “That’ll be ninety-six sixteen.”

Almost a hundred dollars for pregnancy tests!

That’s ridiculous. I roll my eyes again, but Landon pays without a word. When we’re in the car, he turns to me and drags his knuckles down my cheek, immediately calming me. “Would you feel more comfortable at my place or yours?”