“I’m really sorry, Sue,” I murmur, feeling utterly useless now. “I take it you still haven’t talked to him about it?”

“No, but I plan to as soon as he gets back.”

“Gets back? I—I don’t understand.”

“He’s out of town. Another unexpected trip that is most likely just him going to be with his mistress. I can’t—I can’t keep doing this, Lila. I’ve buried my head in the sand long enough.” Her voice catches on a sob.

My shoulders slump, body falling back against the chair limply.

“Oh, God, Sue.”

“Yeah. Hey, listen, I have another call. Let’s talk later?” she asks.

I can’t help my sigh. This has been one of Sue’s favorite evasive techniques for as long as I’ve known her. Every time she doesn’t want to talk about something, she finds a way to steer conversation away. And this time, I can’t blame her for it.

“Sure, we’ll talk later.”

Chapter 12

Shattered Dreams

Lila

I walk into Dr. Vincent’s office, a smile plastered on my face. He returns it, adjusting the glasses that are perched on the bridge of his nose.

“Good morning, Dr. Vincent,” I greet warmly, pulling back the seat across from his and making myself comfortable in it.

“Good morning, Lila. How are you today?” he asks, eyes still focused on the paperwork he has in front of him.

“I’m good, but I’ll be better once I get my results.” No matter how many times I do these tests, my reaction is tense. Sitting on the edge of my seat, I tap my feet repeatedly, the sound of my heels clacking against the granite flooring of Dr. Vincent’s office.

Deep down, I know everything is fine, yet my heart still races, and my hands tremble while I wait to receive the results. It’s a feeling I should’ve gotten used to by now, yet I haven’t.

“Ah, yes. I have it here somewhere. Just one moment,” Dr. Vincent responds, scribbling something down. A moment later, he shuffles through a stack of envelopes he pulled from his drawer, stopping on the one that has my name.

“As expected, everything looks good. Your bloodwork, blood pressure, thyroid, vitamin levels, it all looks good. You, little lady, are a very healthy woman.” He smiles, sliding the envelope across to me.

A huge gust of air leaves my lungs. For the first time since I walked in here, I relax, my body sinking into the chair from the relief I feel.

“Thank you, Doc. I don’t know why I still get nervous about getting my results back from you. It’s always good news,” I chuckle, glancing through the test results.

“It’s understandable. Nothing is certain till the results come back,” he says softly.

He’s always been a very kind man.

“What did you decide about what we discussed the last time you were here?” he says, taking off his glasses. My brows furrow, lips puckered in concentration as I try to remember what it was that we discussed.

“What did we—”

“Lila,” he warns.

“What? I really don’t remember!”

“The tests?”

“Oh, right, the whole fertility testing thing,” I sigh. “I just don’t understand why I need to do that though. You just said yourself, I’m a very healthy woman,” I remind him.

“No one is arguing that you’re not healthy Lila, but fertility is something else entirely. It’s not something you can know unlessyou do very specific tests. You said you’d think about it,” he scolds gently.