Liar.
I shove the voice to the back of my mind and continue on my quest.
“The blood work looks good and like this pregnancy is progressing as normal. That’s good news, isn’t it, Alyssia?”
Those words stop me like the metal wall on a vicious corner.
Pregnancy.
The metal on metal scraping of the curtain being pushed back brings me face to face with the same nurse who’d brought Alyssia back earlier.
I look above the nurse’s head to Alyssia who rises from the bed. A beat or two later, she finally looks up to see me standing there. Her mouth falls open.
“How far along are you?” I hear myself ask.
“I …” is all she manages to say.
“How many weeks, Alyssia?” I barely recognize my own voice.
“Eight,” she finally confesses in a voice barely audible.
The answers punches me directly in the gut. Air seeps from my lungs.
Pregnancy.
Pregnancy.
Pregnancy.
My eyes drop to her mid-section before rising to her shielded gaze. Alyssia’s concealed all emotion behind a wall of blankness in her eyes. The way she puts distance between us couldn’t be more obvious than if she’d given me a stiff-arm to the chest, forcing me away.
“I have to go,” Alyssia suddenly says.
“The doctor has already cleared you,” the nurse, who I’d forgotten about, says. “But on the condition that?—”
“I’m sorry, sir. You shouldn’t be here.”
I pivot to find the administrator who tried to chase me down earlier behind me.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I turn back to Alyssia, grinding my teeth so hard that my jaw aches.
She avoids eye contact and looks as if a small burst of wind has the power to send her out of this room and my orbit forever.
That’s not about to fucking happen.
Not until I get these questions forming in my head answered.
“If you don’t leave now, I will call security,” the woman behind me threatens.
“Call them,” I say, still staring at Alyssia.
“Travis.” Alyssia’s voice is low, but a warning, or cautioning. She doesn’t want to do this here.
“Please. I, uh, need a moment alone with the nurse.”
My gaze lands on the nurse who’s now glowering at me.
In this healthcare professional’s eyes, I see it all.
