Page 49 of Unexpecting

J.B. started to laugh. “Way to go, Morgan!” He draped his arm around her shoulder. “Scoop him up right under Casey’s nose. You don’t need me to go to the wedding with you—you’ll have no problem finding your own date.”

″I wanted to talk to you about that,” she said to him.

″Let’s go get a drink then.” Without a word to me, he headed to the stairs, his arm still around Morgan. I watched him go with the feeling I did something wrong. It was like the moment on the bed never happened.

″So.” David stepped away from Sebastian and rubbed his hands together. He glanced out the doorway as if to watch J.B. walk away. “That the roommate? He’s pretty.”

I gave his arm a sharp slap. “None of that talk, okay? I’m still getting used to the idea. I still have flashbacks, torturing myself if you thought some of our friends from school were better-looking than me.”

David threw his arm around me and squeezed. I had a moment when I wished he would do more than give me a friendly squeeze, but I quickly squelched it. “Ah, Casey, I loved you best of all.”

″Back then,” I added. “But it’s nice to know why you didn’t argue with me breaking up with you.”

David hugged me again. “You’ve always been a good friend.”

″And the best girlfriend you’ve ever had, or ever will have, don’t you forget!”

David laughed, looking at me strangely before settling on the edge of my bed. “I know this probably isn’t the best time, but I was wondering if you’ve given it any thought? What we talked about Tuesday night?”

″You talked. I sort of sat there with a stunned expression on my face.”

″Well, there was no easy way to tell you. I thought you handled it all right. Does that mean…”

″I’ve thought, and I haven’t thought,” I told him. “Which means, it sounds like the thing to do, but I haven’t figured everything out yet. I’ve been waiting for my period to come, and then…”

David shuddered. “I guess I should get used to hearing about that sort of stuff,” he grinned.

″Maybe.”

″Maybe is pretty good. I’ll give you a little more time to think about it, then.”

″I should have figured it out in a day or two,” I said.

Chapter Twenty-One

“The expectant mother should savour the excitement and anticipation once she receives the news she is indeed carrying a child. And there is always the unfortunate possibility the father-to-be might not share her joy of her being with child, especially in the beginning. Men always fear the unknown, and for male species, pregnancy and the mysterious workings of the female body is a definite unknown.”

A Young Woman’s Guide to the Joy of Impending Motherhood

Dr. Francine Pascal Reid (1941)

Since Canada Day wason a Sunday this year, I had Monday off like most of the country and celebrated by having a much-needed sleep-in. I’d been exhausted for the last week for some strange reason. I chalked it up to my approaching period. For once, I couldn’t wait to get it. The rest of the day I spent at the house doing an also-much-needed tidying up and then headed to Libby’s that night for a barbeque. I spent most of the time with Madison since a four-year-old’s conversation was preferable to Libby’s when she was on one of her our-mother-is-a-horrible-parent rants.

Brit, Morgan, and I canceled our weekly Monday outing, which I totally regretted late Tuesday afternoon when Morgan called me all hysterical-like. It turned out she finally found out about Anil’s new girlfriend, and as I thought, didn’t take the news very well. I didn’t blame her, since Anil has had this girlfriend for most ofthe year, and Morgan had no idea. To cap it all off, the new girlfriend was demanding marriage, and I guess Anil was going for it. Poor Morgan.

Being a good friend, I let Morgan cry on my shoulder all night, and because Brit had Tom’s boss over for dinner, brought her home to my apartment because I didn’t want Morgan to be alone. And because I am a good friend, I didn’t make her sleep on my couch, which is full of lumps, but made up the couch upstairs for her. I left a note for Coop, Emma, and J.B. that she was there and hoped Morgan was asleep before they got home. I was sure a sympathetic voice would set her off again, and then no one would get any sleep. It was after midnight when I finally tucked her in, as exhausted from Morgan’s crying as she was.

Because of the drama of the night before, I was surprised when I woke up on Wednesday morning that the first thing that popped into my head was my period. Not that it had arrived—the fact that it hadn’t. Like I said, my period always comes. I don’t know why I never bothered to check when I had it last. Silly of me, really, but I never gave it a thought because there was no reason why it wouldn’t come.

I have to backtrack a bit. The first thing that popped into my head Wednesday morning wasn’t my period; it was J.B. I’m embarrassed to admit I had a particularly nice dream about J.B. during the night, if you know what kind of dream I mean. I’m not sure what brought it on, and I’m very glad Morgan slept on the couch upstairs instead of crashing in my bed with me or things might have been very awkward.

Anyway, I woke up with the thought of J.B. still fresh as a daisy in my mind, thinking wouldn’t it be nice, and thinking how nice it had been the last time, and thenohmyGod. It hit me.

Oh, my God!

I’m so dense. Could it be possible? Could it be possible I was so stupid that, all the while I’m thinking about when I can get pregnant, counting the days and thinking all happy thoughts, when all the while I could already be pregnant, and in the worst twist ever, pregnant by a man who definitely does not want to be a father?

I’m easily distracted, but this—this is kind of big from which to be sidetracked. I mean, come on! I might very well be carrying a real live child inside me. Okay, maybe not quite a child yet, but a glob of ever-multiplying cells.

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