Page 121 of Addicted

We didn’t speak. We just sat there in silence, the tension between us thick enough to cut with a knife. A few minutes passed. Then ten.

I scrolled through my phone, pretending to be interested in Instagram posts I didn’t give a damn about. But I could feel Stone staring at me. I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my face. I refused to look at him.

Finally, a nurse called my name.

“Indigo Thompson?”

I stood up immediately, shoving my phone into my purse. Stone stood up too, following me as the nurse led us down a hallway.

“We’re just going to get your weight and blood pressure real quick,” the nurse said with a smile. “Then I’ll take you to the room.”

She gestured to a scale, and I stepped on it. She recorded my weight, then led me to a chair where she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm. Stone stood off to the side, his arms crossed, watching. The nurse pumped the cuff, waited, then released it.

“Blood pressure looks good,” she said. “A little elevated, but that’s normal for a first appointment.”

Or maybe it’s elevated because I’m pissed at my baby daddy, I thought. But I didn’t say that out loud.

The nurse led me down another hallway and stopped in front of a door.

“Dr. Roberts will be with you shortly,” she said, opening the door.

I walked in and climbed onto the table, my legs dangling off the edge.

The nurse closed the door behind her, leaving us alone. The silence was suffocating.

I stared at the wall, refusing to look in Stone’s direction, but I could feel him staring at me. I felt the weight of his gaze on the side of my face. I crossed my arms over my chest and kept my eyes forward.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I said.

The door opened, and a woman in her fortieswith warm brown skin and kind eyes stepped inside.

“Good morning,” she said with a smile. “I’m Dr. Roberts. You must be Indigo.”

“Yes,” I said. “But everyone calls me Indie.”

“Indie it is.” She looked over at Stone. “And you must be dad.”

Stone nodded. “Stone.”

Dr. Roberts smiled and sat down on the rolling stool, pulling up my chart on the computer.

“So, Indie, congratulations on your pregnancy. How have you been feeling?”

“Nauseous,” I said. “Like, all the time.”

She nodded sympathetically. “That’s very common in the first trimester. It should start to ease up around twelve to fourteen weeks.”

“Good,” I muttered. “Because it’s kicking my ass.”

Dr. Roberts laughed. “I hear you. Let’s get started, okay? I’m going to do a quick pelvic exam and Pap smear, and then we’ll do an ultrasound so we can see the baby and hear the heartbeat.”

My stomach flipped.

The heartbeat.

I was about to hear my baby’s heartbeat.