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What the hell was wrong with these people? Maybe me and Chloe were totally in love. Married even. Or maybe I was her brother. Yeah. Why not? God, they’d feel so stupid if they found out I was just her brother and I’d come here with her just trying to be nice. Jackasses.
“How long is this go
“I don’t know.” Chloe licked her lips and stared at my knee. “Could you please stop doing that? It’s making me tense.”
I opened my mouth to say something back—something probably stupid like “I can leave if you want me to”—but the nurse saved me.
“Chloe Appleby?”
Chloe cringed at the sound of her own name. I jumped up so fast the nurse looked confused and kinda disturbed. Like maybe I was Chloe Appleby.
“That’s her,” I said, pointing at Chloe.
From the look on her face, I’m pretty sure Chloe was coming up with ten different ways to murder me.
“Let’s go,” I said under my breath. All I could think about was getting out of that room and away from the Judgey McHolierthanthous.
“Right this way,” the nurse said, giving us a smile. A real one. At least someone around here didn’t hate us.
Chloe finally got out of her chair and we slowly followed the nurse. She weighed Chloe, took her blood pressure, and asked her way too many questions about her period. I stared at a pink calendar on the wall. On it was a stork dangling a wide-eyed, smiling baby right over the month of March.
“So your approximate due date would be …”
Chloe and I locked eyes. Due date? What? Already? The woman spun around a plastic wheel and smiled. “March twentieth!”
March twentieth. March twentieth. March twentieth. Suddenly I felt like I had about six and a half months to live.
“I’m just go
“Will your parents be joining us today, hon?” the woman asked.
Somehow Chloe’s head ducked even further. “Um. No.”
Then she shut the door. The nurse turned to me, gri
“You’ll be in room five. You can wait for her in there.”
I glanced at room five. It was light blue and yellow and cheery, but to me it looked like the bowels of hell. I didn’t move. My mouth tasted like dirt. The nurse stood there with her arm out.
“Um … are they go
I made a gesture with my hand that turned her face red. God, I wanted to die.
The nurse recovered and tilted her head sympathetically. “Yes, the doctor will give her a pelvic exam to confirm the pregnancy,” she said. “You can wait out here for that if you like.”
“Thank you!” I said in an exhale. I dropped onto the plastic chair just as Chloe came out and handed a cup full of yellow to the nurse. The nurse placed it on the counter, right at my eye level.
I wondered if they did lobotomies in this place.
Chloe stepped to the threshold and looked down at me. “You’re not coming in?”
My heart thumped. “Um—”
“You’ll need to strip from the waist down, hon,” the nurse said, handing her a paper sheet.
Chloe instantly got the picture. “Oh. Okay.”
“I’ll be right here,” I said. “If you need me.”
“Okay.”
Chloe walked inside like she was in a daze and closed the door behind her. Other nurses and patients walked by, did their business, went into rooms. I kept my eyes on the floor, letting my leg bounce as much as it wanted, avoiding catching any more criticizing looks. Finally someone stopped outside the room, knocked on the door, and went inside. Had to be the doctor, but I wasn’t sure. She said nothing to me, and I didn’t look up.
Five minutes passed. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty million. I could hear murmuring voices through the wall but couldn’t make out any words. In my mind I saw Chloe lying on a table, her legs open, the doctor coming at her with some scary instrument. My stomach turned. I finally lifted my head to breathe and noticed that from where I was sitting I had a clear view of the parking lot out the window. My Jeep was parked right in the middle, its army green paint glinting in the sun. Suddenly I saw myself jumping behind the wheel, gu
My fingers twitched toward the keys in my pocket. Then the door behind me opened.
“Are you Jake?”
I looked up at the doctor. She was thin, pretty, and young, with brown hair, green eyes, and a purple T-shirt under her white coat.
“Um, yeah?”
“I’m Doctor Muller. Come on in.” She cocked her head toward the room like she was inviting me inside for a beer. Was she serious? I didn’t want to see what was going on in there.
“Come on,” she said again. “I won’t bite.”
It wasn’t her I was worried about. I shoved myself up and, staring straight ahead at the far wall—past where Chloe was lying—walked inside.
“It’s okay. I have my clothes back on,” Chloe said, sounding a
I looked at her. Only her stomach was showing as she lay back on the table. Her perfectly flat stomach. There was no way there was a baby in there. Just no way. Was that why they had called me in here? To tell me it was a big mistake? I turned toward the doctor and she was holding this wandlike thing on a wire.
“What’re you go
“It’s okay,” the doctor said, smirking. My jaw clenched. Glad she was enjoying this. “We’re just going to listen for the baby’s heartbeat.”
My eyes widened. “It’s got a heartbeat?”
They both looked at me like I’d just skipped A in a recital of the ABCs.
“Sorry.”
The doctor sat on a tall stool and squirted some goo on Chloe’s stomach. Then she put the end of the wand on there. Chloe’s hand shot out toward me. I hesitated a second, but then held it. She squeezed my fingers crazy hard. This was so wrong. I shouldn’t be here. Chloe should not be holding my hand. I’d never held her hand in my life.
Then, out of nowhere, this quiet thrumming sound filled the room. It was so fast it sounded like something panicked.
“There it is! That’s your baby,” the doctor said.
“That’s it?” Chloe asked, lifting her head off the table.
“Yep. Sounds good and strong,” the doctor said.
She put the wand away and handed Chloe some tissues. “To wipe your stomach,” she explained when Chloe looked confused. As Chloe mopped up the goo with her free hand, the doctor clasped her hands between her knees. “So, is there anything else you want to ask me, Chloe? Or you, Jake?”
I couldn’t think. My head was too filled with the sound of thrumming, even though the machine was turned off. I shook my head and let go of Chloe’s hand. I couldn’t stop staring at her stomach. There was a baby in there. An actual baby. I had the weirdest sensation. Like my head was emptying out from the back of my skull toward the top. The room tilted so fast I was shocked Chloe and the doctor didn’t go flying. I pi
Don’t faint, you pussy. Don’t you fucking faint.
“Um, no. I think I asked everything I needed to ask,” Chloe said. Her voice sounded small and high, like she was suddenly five years old.
“All right, then. You have my card and the pamphlets,” the doctor said. “Please give me a call anytime if there’s anything you want to talk about. Anything at all.”