I slowly drive down Main Street, pointing out a couple of the shops. I pull into a free spot outside of the diner. “This isn’t anything fancy, but it’s good.”
She nods, twisting her fingers together in her lap. “Look, before we go inside, I should probably tell you why I’m here.”
I put the car in park and turn toward her, an easy grin on my lips. “If you like.”
She hesitates, and the desire to burst into a full smile grows. This is it. She’s going to tell me she wants a relationship. She’s going to tell me she’s crazy about me.
“I’m pregnant.”
The grin falls from my face. “What?”
“I… I went to the doctor a couple of days ago, and I’m pregnant.”
Hearing her say it for a second time doesn’t make the words make any more sense. I shake my head.
“You’re pregnant?”
She nods. “And you’re the father.”
I shake my head. “I can’t be.”
“I promise, you are.”
“But it wasn’t even two weeks ago.”
“The doctors have really sensitive tests.”
“But we used condoms.”
“They don’t always work.”
We fall silent as I struggle to make sense of what she’s said. Sophie is… pregnant. She says I’m the father. That protection doesn’t work. That the doctors have really sensitive tests.
Tests you would probably only take if you had a reason to think you might be pregnant.
That’s when it hits me. The bag in the backseat of her car. The prenatal vitamins. The baby shoes.
They weren’t for her friend. They were for her.
“Were you trying to get pregnant?”
She releases a shaky breath. “Yes and no.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Yes, I was trying to get pregnant. But, no. I wasn’t trying to get pregnant with you.”
I clamp my eyes shut and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’m sorry, I’m going to need you to explain that to me.”
“Well… a few months ago, I decided I wanted to have a baby. Dating hasn’t been going well. It’s never gone well. And one day I figured I should stop waiting for the right guy and justgo ahead and have a baby. So, I made plans to be… artificially inseminated.”
My eyes fly open then, and my hand falls to my side.
“I went in for my appointment a few days ago.” She’s still clasping her fingers together in her lap. “As part of the pre-insemination check-up they ran some tests, and, well, I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant.”
She nods. “I know it’s a lot to process. I’ve known for a couple of days and I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. I know this isn’t something you were planning. And… you don’t have to be involved unless you want. Though, I’d love it if you were. You have no idea how long I’ve…”
