Page 23 of Floored

"Okay." She sighed. But her face, it was all scrunchy and worried. "Talk to me because my thoughts are going everywhere from brain tumor, to you were robbed, to I don't even know."

I exhaled a laugh, but even that sounded pained.

"Do I need to get on a plane?"

I shook my head. "No, I just ... I need you to be here with me while I do something."

"Okay." Claire looked off camera and shook her head, waving her boyfriend, Bauer, away when he said something. "Hang on, Lee, let me move to the bedroom."

Her camera whirled, and I tried not to focus on the movement, pinching my eyes shut when that didn't work because the last thing I needed to do was puke while on FaceTime. Gross. Hearing the click of a door, I opened my eyes, and Claire was sitting on her bed.

"All right, sorry. What are we doing?"

We.

For my entire life, I'd been part of a we. That was the thing about having an identical twin. It's a guaranteed playmate—someone to tell your secrets to, someone to get in trouble with, and someone to hold space for you when you need it. Yes, I loved Molly and Isabel, but Claire turned me into something more.

Slowly blowing out a breath through puffed cheeks, I reached over, unzipped my overnight bag, and grabbed the pregnancy test that I'd picked up from a pharmacy that I passed on the way to the train station in Haworth. I lifted the box up next to my face, and it took a couple of seconds for it to register.

Claire blinked, leaning in toward her phone screen, and I watched her mouth form the words. Her jaw fell open. Her eyes widened.

"Holy shit," she whispered.

Another tear escaped, and I wiped it away using the back of the hand holding the box.

"Oh, Lia."

"Yeah."

Claire licked her lips, rubbing them together before she spoke again. Oh, it was never, ever good when she was being careful about what words she chose. "What happened? Was it ... did you ...?" She blew out a breath of her own and gave me weird, intense eyes. "Did someone hurt you?"

"Oh, my gosh, no," I insisted. "No, it's not like that. I-I wanted to. I met him a couple of weeks after I got here."

Claire's entire frame relaxed. "Okay. Good. You know I had to ask. It's not ... it's not like you not to tell me when you slept with someone."

I rubbed my forehead. "I know. But I knew you'd worry if I told you I met a guy in a pub and …" I waved my hand in a vague gesture.

She mimicked my hand movement. "And ...?"

"Shut up."

Claire grinned. "What's his name?"

Immediately, I shook my head. "I'll give you the recap later. Right now, I just need to know."

She sat up, and I couldn't help but smile at the change in her demeanor. My younger by two minutes twin was going into Mom-mode. "Okay. Are we doing this now?"

"I think so."

I hauled my ass off the couch and into the tiny bathroom. Once the box was ripped open, I exhaled. Hard.

"What?" she asked.

Studying the piece of plastic in my hand, I shrugged. "It's just ... what a weird little contraption, right? You pee on the thing, and it tells you whether you're pregnant with a hot British man's baby."

Claire smiled. "How hot?"

"Really, really hot." My answer was so glum, she burst out laughing.

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