Not ending. Just crashing and burning.
By the time Arik was knocking on her door, she’d pulled herself together, put more makeup on than normal and opened the door with a smile on her face.
“Hey,” he said. She must not have done that great of a job because the next words were, “What happened? Are you hurt?”
She burst into tears.
Where the heck had all the masks she’d built and perfected over the years gone?
Out the window with her reputation!
“We need to talk,” she said.
Lying about this wouldn’t sit well.
Neither would pushing it off.
It was like a Band-Aid on an open wound. Pull it off now before it scabs over and sticks even tighter.
“Is someone hurt? Sick? Dying? God, I hope it’s not the last one.”
She was dying inside, but it felt overly dramatic to share that.
“I’m not sure how to say this. I’m just going to blurt it out to get it off my chest.”
“Okay,” he said. “Do what works for you.”
That was the thing about Arik.
He always cared.
He never tried to make her be someone she wasn’t. Even encouraged her to be a better version of herself.
She had to remind herself of this.
It wasn’t as if she did it on purpose. It wasn’t planned.
He’d been a willing participant every time. He saw the condoms, even put most of them on himself.
“I’m pregnant,” she said. His wide-eyed stare didn’t tell her anything. Neither did his silence. Five seconds went by. Nothing. Hewasn’tmaking her feel any calmer. “Did you hear me?”
He burst into laughter, picked her up and spun her around.
What the heck was happening right now?
“Seriously? I’m going to be a dad?”
“Put me down, I don’t want to get sick.”
His body stopped moving as if the biggest brake pads had been engaged before a crash. The movement almost caused them both to tumble to the ground, him holding her tight to shield her if it happened.
“Sorry. Let’s rewind. You’re pregnant. Really pregnant?” His eyes dropped to her belly. “Like my baby is in there?”
“Really pregnant and pregnant are the same thing. Not sure how it can be more exaggerated. And it’s more like the size of a pea right now. At least I think. I’m only a week late.”
“So that is how far along?”
“Five weeks. They go by your last period. I’m never late and everything has been crazy at work getting ready for that wedding last week and the guests that came in. Then this week more going on.”
