Chapter 25: Chapter 25

LAUREN

^THREE WEEKS LATER^

A light knock sounded on Lauren’s door as she lay in bed, mustering up the energy for Logan’s event tonight.

“Come in,” she said, sitting up and immediately regretting it as a dizzy spell hit her.

Shana opened the door. “You excited for the opening tonight?” she asked, her eyes narrowing in on Lauren’s face.

Lauren must have looked like she felt—like shit. She’d been nauseous the past three days, but it was flu season, so she paid it no mind. Especially when she had a career-changing job to do tonight.

Pulling the covers off, Lauren nodded. “I’ll get there. Coffee first.” She smiled through the turning of her stomach at the mention of coffee. “Then I have a few things to do before it starts, but I’ll be there. No worries.”

Shana frowned, looking over her before pity filled her big brown eyes. “You doing okay, Lauren?”

She wasn’t, but Shana didn’t need to know that Lauren’s body had been rejecting the idea of cutting Logan out of her life, leaving her unable to get more than a couple of hours of sleep at night or to keep a decent meal down, making her vulnerable to illness.

Having conveyed, via Shana, that she’d wanted no more contact from him, Lauren had been heartbroken that Logan had complied with her request.

He wasn’t even trying to fight for her, so it seemed that he hadn’t been serious about wanting more and that it was easy for him to move on.

Lauren spun her feet off the bed and moved toward the edge. “Just looking forward to this event being over.” Lauren gave her a tight smile.

Shana nodded. “I know.” She sighed. “Look, Lauren, I’m sorry—”

“Please,” Lauren said with a raised hand. “You’ve apologized enough. And it wasn’t your fault.” Standing up, she ended the conversation with, “It is what it is. I’m over it,” sighing through her half-truth.

Picking up on Lauren’s cue, Shana said, “Okay, well, I’ll let you get ready, and I’ll see you later.” She began shutting the door, then added, “I’m here if you want to talk about things. Anything.” Smiling, she closed the door.

Moving to her bathroom, Lauren hardly recognized the woman in the mirror. She was thinner in some places yet fuller in others, her skin was paler yet glowing, and her hair was more difficult to control yet more lush.

A wave of nausea ripped through her stomach, and she dropped to the toilet, hugging its porcelain bowl. She retched until her face was damp with sweat, then she groaned and grabbed the mouthwash that had been next to the toilet for the last few days.

She rinsed her mouth out and spat into the bowl before flushing it and standing on shaky legs. She gripped the sink, her head swimming as she grabbed her glass of water and drank as much as she could.

After she put the glass down, Lauren glanced in the mirror, and her reflection gave her a look, one she’d been trying not to see. It was the look that told her to reach into her feminine hygiene box and pull out the test that was inside it.

Despite her being on birth control with the shot, she could no longer be in denial about what was happening. Now she had to know, because her choices moving forward could directly affect someone else’s life.

Thought it seemed all her choices had done that so far.

With a long exhale, Lauren took out the test, peed on the stick, and turned on the shower. She got in, leaving the test face down on the sink, and let the hot water wash away her nausea and, like it had the last few weeks, the rainfall showerhead soothed her body and mind.

But it wasn’t long before her thoughts drifted to the possibility of a baby in her life.

She could barely keep a houseplant alive, how was she meant to look after a child? And to be connected to Logan for the rest of her life was going to be torture, especially if he got into a long-term relationship.

Or, maybe he wouldn’t want anything to do with her and the baby.

Lauren finished washing and got out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around herself, she reached for the test with a shaky hand.

Before she could get it, her phone rang, startling her, and she picked it up instead.

“Hello?” she asked, not having looked at the caller ID.

A cheery female voice on the other end spoke. “Hello, is this Ms. Lauren Landon?”

“Speaking.”

“I’m calling from the Downtown Women’s Health Clinic.”

“Okay,” Lauren said, putting the phone on speaker so she could get dressed while talking.

“It’s about your shot appointment,” the woman said. “You missed it.”

Relief washed over Lauren at the woman’s words. Her appointment had been two weeks ago, and she’d forgotten. Finally, she had a reason for her symptoms.

Her hormones were just going crazy because she’d messed up her shot routine, and she probably was just getting the flu. Lauren couldn’t be pregnant; the last time she’d had sex was four weeks ago, well inside the protection of the shot.

“Ugh, that’s right,” Lauren said, happy to be talking to just the right person. “I completely forgot. Is it okay if I come in today quickly? In an hour or so?”

“That’s fine, Ms. Landon. We have a slot open in an hour. We’ll see you then,” the woman said.

“Wait, before you go, I have a question,” Lauren said, eyes flicking to the overturned test. “How likely is it that I could have gotten pregnant if I had sex four weeks ago?”

“Well, considering your appointment was on February fourteen, I’d say it’s highly likely.”

Lauren’s knees weakened, and she gripped the phone so as not to drop it. “What? No. That’s not right. My appointment was on ~March~ fourteen.”

Sounds of typing came from the woman’s end of the call. “Hmm, no. Our computers say you were due to come in in February, not March.”

The woman kept talking, but Lauren set down the phone. Her whole body shaking now, she grabbed the test and stared into her eyes in the mirror as she flipped the stick in her fingers.

Taking a deep breath, Lauren looked down, and the two very pink lines finally brought her to her knees.