“I’m okay.” Bo tilts his head and pushes his tongue against the corner of his mouth, eyeing me sceptically.
I can tell I look nervous, so it’s not exactly surprising that he’s already watching me with such concern. My lips are rubbing together against my will, and my eyes are twitching slightly, probably blinking a little too much. Plus, I can’t seem to sit still.
I attempt to force a smile, but I can tell it’s unconvincing when Bo’s eyebrows knit together subtly.
He clears his throat with a fist in front of his mouth and continues. “Work has been busy. Um, it always picks up the closer we get to the holidays. Before we shut down for a little bit. But honestly, er, not much else is going on.” He laughs half-heartedly, studying my expression some more.
“Right,” I agree.
He takes a long sip of his coffee, his eyes darting to my bouncing knee at the side of the table. “Win, are you—”
“I’m pregnant,” I interrupt loudly, all the breath leaving my lungs at the same time the words pass through my lips.
Bo pales instantly. His shoulders fall like he’s forgotten how to support his own weight. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, “I couldn’t hold that in any longer.”
“You’re…” He swallows, looking at the table between us. He raises his hands from his lap and places both palms flat on the table as he hunches over. “Did you say,” he tilts up to look at me, his eyes wide and unblinking, “that… you’re pregnant?”
“Yes. I-I did.”
He nods. Then, again. Then so many times it seems like his neck might be broken. “Okay. All right. Okay. And I, uh, I gather you’re tellingmebecause…” He inhales a long, trembling breath, still nodding to himself.
“Yes. You are,” I answer.
“Wow.” He pinches the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. Then he rocks gently in his chair, his palm placed overtop his mouth with his fingers cradling his cheek. “Okay,” he says into his hand. “Okay,” he repeats, dropping it away.
“I know it’s a lot.” Wringing my hands in my lap, I look at the next table over and wonder how many times in my life I’ve sat next to life-altering conversations and remained blissfully unaware. “I’m sorry,” I offer again.
“No, uh, I—” His breath shakes some more as he reaches for his coffee and takes another long sip. “Wow,” he says, swallowing.
“Yeah,” I agree. I look over to the end of the counter and notice a pitcher of water and glassware. “Would you like some water maybe?” I offer. Mostly, I just want to leave the table, even if only for a few seconds.
“Oh. Uh, yeah. Sure. Thanks.”
I stand and pour two glasses, grateful for the momentary distance between myself and the bomb I just dropped. “Here,” I say, placing it in front of him and taking my seat.
He chugs the whole thing in one go. “Shit, sorry. Um, how are you feeling? How are you? How—how are you?”
“I’m okay,” I answer honestly. “I’ve been sick a lot. Nauseous. But I’m okay. We, er,we’reokay.” I place a hand on my belly under the table and out of view from him.
Meet your dad, kid.
“I really didn’t see this coming.” Bo’s eyes finally stop bouncing around the room, and he holds them on me, confusion overtaking him. His whole face droops in concentration. I can practically see his brain replaying our evening together and the exact moment he gets to the missing condoms.
“Neither did I.” I clear my throat. “I… I wasn’t lying when I said I was on the pill.”
“No, I didn’t think that.” His brows furrow as he quickly shakes his head.
“I wasn’t trying to… you know…getknocked up or anything.”
“Right.”
“These things just happen, sometimes.” I shrug, trying to act nonchalant where all I feelischalant.Verychalant.
Bo rubs two palms down his face, dragging his skin in their path. “So… do we—do we get married?”
“What?” I jump back. “No! What? Why would we get married? We don’t even know each other!”
