“I told you, honey.” Yayoi throws her arms around Geoff. “You’re going to be the best daddy of all time.”
“Who’s your OB?” I point at a stout when it’s my turn to order.
Geoff straightens. “Nuh-uhh! No way!”
Taken aback, I lay my menu on the table between us. “No way what?”
“No way are you delivering my baby.”
The server takes that moment to slink away.
I blink at Geoff and laugh. “I didn’t say—”
“No way are you allowed anywhere near her area, Foley.”
I put my hands up. “I wasn’t suggesting...”
Geoff takes a swig of water. “I don’t care how clinical it is. It’s still not happening.”
Jocelyn folds her arms on the table, laughing. “You know, it would be nice to have an in with your own gynecologist. Can’t ask a stranger to take a picture of the inside and show it to you.”
I snort so loud, they all look at me. “You want a picture of your insides?”
She lifts her hands in defense. “It would be cool to know what my own cervix looks like. Iknowsome of them are prettier than others. I want to know where mine ranks.”
Her eyebrow rises.
My insides disappear.
I glance at the others. The table. Behind me. Does she mean... She can’t really mean...
“I can’t help you with that,” I say. Why is my voice weird?
She frowns, perfect platinum waves shifting as her head cocks. “I’m not asking you to.”
“Then why did you look at me?”
She moves her hand in a circle. Am I supposed to be making some connection here? Because literally nothing is linking up. I’ve gone utterly stupid.
“You’re a gynecologist,” she says. “You deal with lots of cervixes. Cervices?” She shakes her head. “More than one cervix.”
I’m picturing it. Not clinically. Not gynecologically.
I’m picturing her naked. Spread open. The way a man pictures a woman he wants.
Stop picturing it!
Ears are ringing. Hum of the restaurant disappears. Darkness closes inward. Atmospheric Edison bulbs on the chandelier above us prove useless. What is happening right now?
My voice cracks. “I’m going to be real frank right now. I mean this in the friendliest way possible, but Icannotbe your gynecologist.”
Yayoi barely restrains her laughter.
Joss’s frown turns into a full scowl. “What’swrongwith you? I never asked you to be my gynecologist.”
Geoff chortles around another gulp of water. “Yeah, when you finally let him put something inside you, I highly doubt it will be a speculum.”
My entire body freezes. Joss’s eyes go wide. Geoff slaps a hand over his mouth while Yayoi smacks his arm.
