“Sarai, what is going on?” Alistair asked with genuine concern in his voice.
“You two need to talk. I’ll be right over there,” Mickey said matter-of-factly. She moved across the room. Sarai got up to throw away her empty water bottle. Then she sat back down, crossed her arms, and stared at her tennis shoes.
Alistair sat down beside her. She got up and moved over. He didn’t follow. Instead he looked around trying to figure out where exactly they were. Searching for a clue as to what this was all about. Sarai looked the same. He noticed. Her hair was still the same pink and blue and still the same length. She was still dressed in leggings and a rock band t-shirt, only now she wore it over long johns and had a thick heavy coat in her lap. “Are you sick?” he asked after a moment. “Is it your mom? Are you waiting for your mom?”
“What do you care?” she mumbled. “You had your fun, you used me. I don’t need you or want you here. You were engaged, or are engaged, I really don’t care. You didn’t say anything, and you had sex with me. You used me,” she repeated.
Everything he had rehearsed went out the window. He leaned in his hands and ran his hands through his hair.
“Sarai, I never used you. I hate that you feel that way. I hate to think I hurt you, when I never intended to.” He glanced at her, but she didn’t look at him. “Did you listen to any of my messages?”
“No. Stop leaving me messages, just go away. I don’t care if you’re sorry, or whatever. You hurt me and it’s unforgivable. The end.”
Suddenly he sniffed the air. “You are pregnant.”
Her head snapped up and she looked at him.“How do you know that?” she demanded.
“I can tell,” he said.
“How?” She looked down to see if her stomach was showing or something, “Did Mickey tell you?”
“No, I can just tell,” he said. “Am I wrong?”
“Liar! I’m not even showing. She told you. I’m going to kill her. I’m not going to tell you, and there is no one you can ask, because that would break patient confidentiality.”
“I don’t need to ask anyone. I know you’re pregnant and I know it’s mine. I can just sense these things. Forget it.” He pondered over the date and the date they had sex.
“Does it have anything to do with the way your eyes glowed while we made love?” she suddenly asked.
“Something like that.”
“What is with you? I have a right to know! You used me and I don’t want to hear more of this bullshit. Besides, I’m carrying your kid, and I’d like to know if there are any surprises I should be aware of.”
“You have nothing to worry about. You’ll have a normal pregnancy. The, let’s call it a complication, won’t appear if at all, till the child is older.”
“Complication?”
“If you want to talk about this, we need to go somewhere else, more private. Mickey can come too, if she wants to, if you need her to.”
“No, if you have something to say, just say it.”
“I can’t talk about this, not here.”
“What is up with you? You and your secrets, your arranged marriage bullshit, your ancient ways and traditions.”
‘I will explain everything, but not here.”
“Fine! Mickey, we’re going.”
Mickey got up.
“We’re going to go talk, because he needs privacy. Coming?”
“Yeah.”
They headed out to the elevator and entered. Alistair pushed the emergency stop button, and the elevator lurched to a stop “We can talk here.”
He ran his hands through his hair nervously. He had rehearsed for days what he would finally say to her, but his head was swimming with so many emotions, he couldn’t collect his train of thought. He took a deep breath and shook himself. “Ok, you’re going to think I’m insane, but hear me out and give me a chance to prove it before you dismiss it. I don’t have room here, but I can prove what I’m about to say.”
