Page 2 of A Linton Scandal

“I’m sorry. Dr. Howard you’ve got the wrong results, I can’t be pregnant.”

It was taking everything in me not to shout this at the top of my lungs. I was only twenty-seven and took my pill like some people drank whiskey—regularly.

“I’ve never been late in taking my pill, how could I have gotten pregnant,” I demanded.

He glanced down at his chart, his lips pursing as he leafed through the paperwork there. “Are you sure? Your blood work shows nothing out of the ordinary—oh.”

I tightened my hold on my purse in my lap and squinted. “Oh?”

He looked at me flustered, before he glanced back down at the papers in front of him. “Ms. Juliette did you receive a notice of any kind from our facility regarding the company Prexton. They are the pharmaceutical company who provides us with pregnancy preventive medicine. They’ve been in the news a great deal recently.”

I stared at him blankly as I hadn’t received any such email from him or the hospital. “No, I never received anything in regard to them, why?”

“Well, from what I can see here, the prescription you received six months ago would have been nothing more than sugar pills. Unfortunately, Prexton shipped out a few dummy pills that were meant to be used for other purposes.”

“What?”

Dr. Howard flinched back when I jumped to my feet. Nervously, he glanced at the door behind me. “I… I tried to make sure all of our patients had gotten the email, but it seems yours slipped through the cracks.”

I weakly plopped back down and stared at him. “So, what…” I couldn’t finish my thought, my mind was in complete turmoil. I hadn’t planned on having kids, especially not now.

What the hell was going on with my luck?

I leaned forward and released a heavy sigh. Trying not to have a panic attack or jump up and beat Dr. Howard around the head with my purse. The only reason I didn’t was because he had been my doctor since I’d come to the city and had always taken great care of me.

The silence grew in the office until he cleared his throat. “I’ll have Nurse Jackie come in and you can talk with him about your options.” He stood as he said this, his chair scraping against the floor as he quickly walked around the desk and exited the office.

Coward.

He probably was scared I’d scream the word sue and start accusing him and his clinic of malpractice. I should sue him and that damn company Prexton. But that wouldn’t erase my current problem.

Feeling a buzzing near my thigh, I opened my purse, pulling out my phone to see another message from my friend Noah, about meeting up for lunch. Grinding my teeth, I realized there was nothing I could do about my predicament now.

The best thing I could do now was eat something, at least my stomach would be full, and I needed a distraction anyway. Getting up, I didn’t bother to wait for the nurse and walked out of the office. As far as I was concerned, the faster I left the office the faster I could think about something else, anything other than being pregnant.

* * *

The restaurantI was going to was located in the center of the art district in a funky purple building, its name “The Chrys” was written in fancy lettering above the door. I was a regular there, along with my two best friends and as usual it was packed on a Thursday. The loud crowd barely drowned out the news that was on the T.V.

“Linton has done it once again. Their company has gained partial ownership to another diamond in the business world. Ibiz, a tech company that’s been making waves…”

Spotting a large blonde male sitting toward the back. I quickly cut my way over to his side. “Noah.”

Seeing me, he gave a friendly wave. “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

“Sorry, the appointment went on longer than I expected.”

“Well, being the good person I am. I already ordered for you,” Noah said in good humor as I sat down. Noah and I had been friends since our days at Auguste Escoffier culinary college. While he’d been on the fast track to becoming a chef, I’d been completely committed to becoming a Chocolatier. We met thanks to a shared friend.

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing my water and taking a sip.

“What took you so long, usually Dr. Howard tells you you’re good and sends you on your way,” Noah said. “You’re not about to tell me you’re suffering from some deadly illness, right?”

“When did you start timing my doctor appointments?” I asked. “I knew we’d been around each other too long, especially when you’d started reading my cold expressions accurately.”

He laughed. “I’m actually pretty impressed with myself, I never thought I’d break the code to your expressions. Do you know how many people thought I could read your mind back in college?”

“Probably the same amount who wouldn’t shut up about us dating,” I muttered. Back in college everyone had thought he and I were dating. “At some point, I stopped correcting them.”

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