Page 16 of Trash the Dress

He glances back to his paperwork to jot down something and then smiles. “I want you to rest for now. The nurses will run your labs, and I’ll get back to you. Can we call anyone for you while you’re waiting?”

I think of my parents but quickly ditch the idea. I’m a grown woman and I don’t need my parents to treat me like I’m not, so I shake my head. “I’ve got my cell if I need to reach someone,” I say and hold it up from where it was lying beside me.

He smiles kindly. “All right. I’ll be back with your results soon.”

I lie back on my pillow. I had my period in May, right? I must have. And in all the chaos of moving my stuff back to my apartment from Eric’s house and trying to heal, it was probably just short and light and didn’t occur to me to log it on my phone.

Still, maybe I should call Anna after all. I think back to my night with Zander. But we used protection. And he’s the only person I’ve been with in almost a year. I may have been a little reckless by giving in to temptation with him, but we weren’t unprotected.

I sit in silence for a few more minutes before shooting Anna a text of where I am and asking her to come.

On cue, she calls. “I’m on my way. What do you need? I can be there in about forty-five minutes,” she says.

“I don’t need anything. I just wanted someone to be here. And I didn’t want to call my parents and worry them,” I admit.

“I’m on my way, hunny-bunny,” she says as she ends the call.

I feel slightly better knowing she’s coming. I lie back on the pillows and close my eyes.

True to her word, Anna arrives in no time at all. “You didn’t get any speeding tickets on your way, did you?” I ask jokingly.

“I didn’t. You’d be proud of me. I kept it under the speed limit and between the mayonnaise and mustard the entire drive here,” she says.

I laugh as she parks herself in the chair beside me. “I had a ‘you’ moment earlier,” I tell her.

“Oh yeah?” she asks with her eyes twinkling.

“Yeah. These two handsome firemen brought me to the hospital, and I ended up asking if they were married because you live in my head,” I say laughing with her.

“So, were they?”

“Oh, um, one of them is happily married. The other one, Slade I think, wasn’t.”

She waggles her eyebrows. “Then maybe this food poisoning setback was a destiny wink,” she says.

I guffaw. “I wouldn’t call food poisoning that left me on a cold floor in a strange place while hugging a toilet a destiny wink.”

“No faith in the bigger picture,” she says while shaking her head.

“We can stay at the B and B once I’m out of here. They said they’d keep my room for me. Then, maybe we can explore this town a little more,” I tell her just as a knock sounds on the door.

Dr. Boyd comes in and comes to a stop beside my bed. “How are you feeling?” he asks.

“I’m feeling a little better now that I’ve gotten some fluids in me. Did you get my test results? Can I be discharged?”

“I can discharge you within the hour. I’d like you to finish the IV fluid you’re taking now. But I’d like to go over your test results with you,” he says. I can’t tell what that might mean by the tone of his voice.

He glances from me to Anna. She jumps up. “Right, I’ll just find a vending machine and grab us a couple of ginger ales if they have them.”

Dr. Boyd waits on her to shut the door before flipping a couple of papers on his clipboard. He stares directly at me. “The tests came back, and they show you’re pregnant, Miss Shepard. Aside from being dehydrated, everything else is normal.”

I’m sure I’ve misunderstood him. “I’m what? I think you might have the wrong chart. There’s no way,” I start as denial replaces shock.

He glances at the results in his hand once more. “I had them check twice to be sure. It seems like you’re about six weeks by the levels of HCG in your blood.”

My lips part in shock. “Um, I…” I trail off as realization hits me in the face.

Dr. Boyd casts a knowing look my way. “I take it you know when this happened. Do you have an OB/GYN you see for annual checkups? I can always get you connected with Dr. Ray here. She’s wonderful.”

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