Rounding the corner into that room, I freeze with surprise in the doorway. Jess isn’t here, but the lamp is on. This is odd. She’s not careless, so what’s happening?
My eyes narrow as I start to feel uneasy. Warnings bells begin to ring as I walk to the chaise lounge where I see an unopened copy of Pride and Prejudice on the cushions. Where is she? I pick up the book and randomly flip through the pages, but there’s nothing. Then, I slide it back in its place on the shelf by my desk. Suddenly, a foul odor greets me. What the hell?
I turn, holding my breath, and it doesn’t take me long to see the vomit in the trash can. The ringing bells in my head turn into five-alarm clanging. Something happened last night–or this morning–and it’s something not good. I can feel it inside of me.
I rush out of the room, desperate to find Jess. I start to scan all of the rooms in the house, my heart beating frantically. I walk into the sitting room first. Empty. I check the kitchen once again to find it empty, too, except for my butler, Maxwell, standing by the stove. Now breakfast is being made.
“Maxwell, have you seen Jessalyn?” I ask, trying to mask the concern in my voice.
He turns with an inquisitive look in his eyes.
“No, sir. Can’t say that I have. May I suggest the gardens? I know she likes to venture out there on nice days like today.”
I make a mental note to check the gardens after finishing the inside of the house. Like a madman, the next room I check is my office, which is empty, and then I poke my head into the bathroom right next to it. What I find in there makes me stop short.
The light in the room is on, an indication that she or someone was once here but what I find next not only solidifies that someone was in this bathroom, but it solidifies that it was Jessalyn in this bathroom.
The bottom drawer to the bathroom vanity is slightly open, and my stomach forming a pit, I walk to look in the trash. Yes, it’s there. There’s a discarded pregnancy test buried beneath some tissues, and with trembling hands, I pick up the indicator and read the results. It’s positive.
I feel as if all the wind was just knocked out of me and slowly sink to the ground. The pregnancy test is clutched between my fingers and my eyes stay glued to the two blue lines that tell me the unexpected. Jess is pregnant. A wave of different emotions hit me at once, from, Holy shit is this thing accurate? to We’re going to have a baby! to Where the hell is Jess?
And also, when was this taken? This morning? I stand up and wad the test in toilet paper before slipping it in my pocket to continue searching the house for her. This is something we need to talk about. My heart races and I don’t feel like I’m getting enough oxygen. And yet, I’m excited. I’m having a baby with the curvy girl? She’s going to be a mommy to my child? I’ve got to talk with her about this.
Now, I’m downright desperate. I tear through the second floor looking for Jess, and then cover the third at light speed. I go out back and check the pool and gardens like Maxwell suggested before coming back in. She is literally nowhere to be found. Where the fuck is she?
Rushing to the master suite, I grab my phone from my nightstand to call her. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. I have to talk to her right now. There’s a perfectly good explanation for where she is, and I just need to find her so that we can discuss this pregnancy.
The phone begins to ring and I wait impatiently for Jess to pick up. Suddenly, there’s the sound of another ringtone in the room, and my head swivels around with surprise. Wait a minute. The phone that I bought Jess when she arrived is sitting on her nightstand. With trembling fingers, I pick it up, and see my own name in the caller ID.
She left her phone here.
I throw mine on the bed and look around wildly, taking in the setting with new eyes. Like an animal, I rush to the closet. The lingerie I bought her is still there, but the rest of her things have disappeared. Then, I check the drawers. Again, her frilly fripperies remain, but the raggedy little clothes she brought with her and her bag from under the bed are gone. What the actual fuck.
I stand stock still, trying to make sense of everything I’ve just discovered. Why would she leave me? Why would she run away? Did the pregnancy scare her? Does she think I don’t want the baby?