AJ took a breath, knowing the words that were about to come out of his mouth sounded ridiculous. “We can speak at a volume that is nearly imperceptible to the human ear and hear each other clearly and have full conversations.”
The excitement in her expression deflated immediately. “You mean whisper?”
“No, it’s quieter than that. It’s negative decibels.”
“So lip reading?”
“I can lip read, but no, that’s not what this is. We can be back-to-back and do it.”
“Oh, cool.” The excitement returned.
“And Niko had us do the TikTok trend where we stood with a barrier wall between us and were asked to do the same things—turn around, raise one arm, do a dance move, make a face, hold up a number on our fingers—things like that, and we did the same thing every single time. I think we ended up doing about a thousand different variations and never missed.”
“That’s amazing. Is it on TikTok?”
AJ was seriously regretting telling her, he’d just been trying to distract her. “Yes.”
“I’m gonna look it up.”
Great. He honestly could not believe he’d just told her about those TikToks.
The door opened, and a petite woman with thick, glossy hair and an expressive face poked her head inside. “Hey, Poppy, oh!” The second syllable came out as a delighted little yip when she spotted AJ. “Oh hello, Hallway Ho?—”
“AJ, this is Dr. Steph Roemer.” Poppy quickly made introductions. “Steph, this is AJ.”
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Roemer.”
“Please, call me Steph. And I’m sorry about the Hallway…thing… Poppy and I have been friends for almost a decade, and I forget to be professional when she’s around.”
“I’m a bad influence.” Poppy grinned up at AJ. “Steph saw you pacing the hallway the night we found out.”
“I figured.” It didn’t take a genius to puzzle out the nickname’s origin.
“The nurses on the floor nicknamed you Hallway Hottie,” Poppy explained.
AJ wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with that information.
“Again, I apologize,” Dr. Roemer said sincerely.
“I’ve been called worse.”
Thankfully, that was the end of the appointment detour spotlight on him, and Dr. Roemer began by asking Poppy routine questions. How are you feeling? Any morning sickness? Nausea, dizziness, bleeding? Any changes in appetite or mood?
AJ was impressed at how self-aware Poppy was. She’d kept a detailed mental log of her physical symptoms and spoke about being defensive, irritable, and overwhelmed. She said she felt like she was on an emotional roller coaster that was going upand down, doing loop-di-loops, and all she could do was hold on and try not to fall out. She told her friend that there were days she heard herself speaking and didn’t recognize herself. She said she had treated some people very unfairly when they’d just been trying to help. AJ was fairly certain he was the “people” she was referring to.
Dr. Roemer explained that was totally normal. She was growing a human life, and that was not an easy job for a person’s hormones, nervous system, mental, physical, or emotional health. She told her that she should show herself the same grace and patience she would show a loved one or a friend.
AJ endorsed that message. He couldn’t agree more.
“Okay, so are there any issues, questions, or concerns?” Dr. Roemer asked as she stood from the rolling stool.
“You mean besides the fifty that I’ve texted you over the past four weeks?” Poppy teased, making light of the fact that she’d been texting Steph at least once a day every day for the past month.
It was so frequent, AJ was scared her friend might block her, but thankfully she seemed to be a good sport.
“Yes, I mean besides the fifty texts.”
Poppy took a deep breath and reached for AJ’s hand again. “No.”
