She stared at me, not blinking for a few seconds.
“How long is this been going on?” she asked.
“About a week,” I told her. “That’s why I decided to take some time off. I thought maybe if I got some rest, it would make it feel better.”
“So, let me get this straight. You are tired. Smells bother you. And you feel sick when you eat. But you haven’t had a fever or coughing or sneezing? Anything like that?”
“No,” I told her.
“And you haven’t gone to a doctor?” she asked.
“No. Why would I go to a doctor? I told you, I’m not sick,” I said.
“I think you’re probably right about that. But you still need to go to at least go to the drugstore,” Olivia told me.
“Why would I do that?” I asked.
“To get a pregnancy test. That sounds exactly like how my sister felt when she was pregnant with my nephew,” she said matter-of-factly.
Panic started bubbling up inside me as I tried to flip through the calendar, timing my encounters with Quentin. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I’d missed my period. With all the stress and chaos going on around me, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. And of course, we hadn’t used a condom either time. It wasn’t like I walked around carrying a stash of them. Reality sunk in hard, and I rushed to get dressed. I didn’t care how dizzy or tired I felt after two days of barely eating. I needed to get to the drugstore and fast. We were back at the apartment within half an hour, and Olivia sat on the floor of the hallway just outside the bathroom door while I took the test.
“Starting the timer,” I called out when I finished peeing on the stick.
“I’m going to make you some dry toast. Barely any smell. Barely any taste. Maybe you’ll be able to keep it down,” Olivia told me.
By the time she was back to the hallway carrying the plate, I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom with the stick in my hand. She met my eyes, and I fell into her arms crying.
31
Quentin
I watched Merry walk down the hallway past my office again, and I swore her footsteps got faster when she got near my door. Her shoes clicked loudly against the floor. Her pace would be steady and casual as she started her way down the hall, then get quicker and shorter as she made her way past my office, then slow again as she continued away from my door. It wasn’t enough to consider it a full-out run or anything, but she was not wasting time getting away from my orbit.
If it was anyone else, I would think the rushing was only because it was race day and everybody on the complex was busting their butts to try to get ready for the big event that night. The tailgate party at the last race was a massive success. People had started emailing and messaging by the next day asking if we were having another one and if they had to buy tickets for it. It was exciting, but it only meant a mountain more work preparing for the night’s race, and I wouldn’t think twice about anyone else even full sprinting past my office. If nothing more than to look like they were working their hardest.
But I knew Merry was scurrying past me for another reason. She didn’t want me to notice she was there so I wouldn’t try to talk to her. Or even if I did notice her, she wanted to be moving too fast for me to get up and come after her. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind several times already that day. I wanted to talk to her more than anything else. The first time I saw her walk by the office, I moved to get up, wanting to go find her and bring her into a quiet room so I could just get a few minutes with her. But I stopped myself before I even made it around to the front of my desk. I knew I wasn’t supposed to do that. I wasn’t supposed to try to find any time alone with her or have any conversations about anything but work.
Hell, I wasn’t even supposed to want those things. All my thoughts and concentration were supposed to be on nothing but doing what I was supposed to be doing to fulfill my role in the company. And that role was to do my own damn job, to keep the company afloat, and keep our team winning. That was it. Those were supposed to be my only goals, and I had to stay laser-focused to make sure they did. Staying focused meant staying away from her. And I certainly wasn’t the only one paying attention to my actions and making sure I was on my best behavior. Nobody was saying anything to me about it, of course, but I couldn’t help but notice the way everybody was looking at me and how they reacted every time I so much as shifted my weight if she was mentioned or was walking past the office.