Page 39 of One-Star Romance

“You don’t have to apologize.”

Natalie turned in to her best friend, who enfolded her, stroking her hair in silence for a few minutes. Last night, Gabby had opened the door to Natalie’s choked “Can I sleep in here with you?” She hadn’t asked any questions. She’d just pushed Angus out of bed and ordered him to go elsewhere, then spooned Nat until she fell asleep.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Gabby asked now, and Natalie pulled back. The two of them curled on their sides, facing each other, Gabby’s eyes full of sympathy, their hair spread out messily on their pillows. Here they were, having a sleepover, as if they’d been transported back to when they were roommates, to the nights they’d accidentally fallen asleep in each other’s beds because they hadn’t wanted to stop talking.

“It’s exhausting to want things,” Natalie said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Things I have to fight for that no one wants to give me.” Gabby nodded. “I can’t…I can’t keep feeling all this rejection. Maybe it’s time to stop fighting and take the things that come to me instead.”

“Maybe,” Gabby said, touching Natalie’s cheek again. “But I hope you don’t do that forever.”

Natalie squeezed Gabby’s hand, then rubbed her eyes. “What time is it? We should get up.”

Gabby groaned. “I could lounge all day. Work has really been taking it out of me. I thought I could catch up on rest this weekend, but I’m still pooped.”

“Too much sun.” Nat put her hand on Gabby’s forehead. “Or are you sick?”

“No, I feel fine otherwise. Except, I guess my boobs are a little tender—”

She cut herself off, and they gaped at each other.

“Do you think it’s…?” Nat began.

“Could I be…?”

“Have you and Angus been trying?”

“No! The plan is to wait a couple more years. And you know I am rigorous about taking my pill.” Her eyes widened. “Except for when I got food poisoning this month—there were a couple days where I couldn’t keep anything down and basically just slept all the time, and I may have skipped a pill then.”

“Shit,” Natalie said. “But there could be a million other explanations.”

“Yeah.” Gabby took a deep, calming breath in through her nose and let it slowly out of her mouth. Then, in a high, fast voice, she asked, “You wanna come to the pharmacy with me real quick?”

Nat jumped out of bed. “Let’s go.”

They ran to the car. As soon as Gabby turned the key, the Hamilton soundtrack that Angus had insisted on playing during the entire drive there began to blast from the speakers. Gabby turned it off with a sharp jab. “I love that Angus loves it,” she said, “but after a full year, I simply can’t listen anymore.”

Gabby drove them carefully up the winding tree-lined road to the nearest CVS and bought a pregnancy test. Then, as she followed the GPS back to the house, she kept up a stressed, steady monologue.

“If I’m pregnant, and we should remember that it’s far more likely that I am not, we could make it work with our finances. We’ve got that extra room in the apartment that we’ve been using as a home office slash art studio, but who needs a home office? It could be a nursery for now.” She turned down the winding lane back to the lake.

“And we’re near Prospect Park, which would be a good place to take walks so the baby could experience nature. I wonder if the Uppababy is really worth it. And sure, I sometimes look at momfluencer accounts, so I have a bit of a sense of what to expect. Not that you can ever really understand until you’re in it.”

Natalie stared at her friend. “What the hell is an Uppababy?”

“A stroller,” Gabby said, as if it were common knowledge.

Angus and Rob were still out on the water when they returned, though Nat could just make out them paddling back (or rather, Rob paddling back) in the distance. Melinda’s car was gone—she’d texted Gabby that she had gotten bored with Dante and decided to take them both back to the city. Gabby turned toward the cabin. “Let’s go inside.”

“Don’t you want to wait for Angus?”

Gabby gave her a look. “Excuse me, no. Remember? If this is anything, you’re the first one I tell.”

Natalie’s heart flooded with love for her friend. “Now come on,” Gabby continued, “because I’m really anxious and need to know.” They grabbed hands and ran into the house together.

After peeing on the stick, Gabby came out to sit with Natalie on the mattress in the bedroom where, just an hour ago, they hadn’t realized how easily their lives could be upended.

Gabby’s leg jiggled up and down. “My God, I never knew a few minutes could last so long.”

“Do you need distraction?” Natalie asked.

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