Page 3 of Chasing the Horizon

The tech furrowed her brows in concentration.

Valerie had the sense that she’d been asked plenty of silly questions over the years. Parents with nerves said the darnedest things.

“One of the Chrises,” she said finally with a laugh. “I never liked that name.”

“Good answer,” Alex said, visibly in duress.

But before long, Alex and Valerie were gazing up at a little black screen.

It was their little baby, fluttering.

“Everything looks great,” the tech said.

Valerie hiccuped, then snapped her hand over her mouth with surprise. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it!” the tech said.

“It’s just that we’ve lost a baby before,” Valerie said before she could stop herself.

“Miscarriages are so, so common,” the tech said. “I can put you in touch with a few online resources and communities that help women with miscarriage-recovery?”

Valerie pressed her lips together. “Maybe. It’s just that I want to make sure that I’m doing everything in my power to keep this baby safe. Like I’ve been avoiding sugar, and I haven’t really been exercising, and I’m worried about taking new jobs because I don’t want to be too stressed.”

“Have you talked to your doctor about this?” the tech asked. She didn’t sound worried in the slightest.

“A bit,” Valerie admitted.

“And what did they say?”

“He said to keep living,” Valerie said. “But I’m a little too, you know, frightened.”

The tech tilted her head. She seemed unsurprised that Valerie had come to her with the same question she’d already asked her doctor.

She knows I need as much support as I can get, Valerie thought.

“I would listen to your body,” the tech continued. “Every step of the way. Monitor your stress. Monitor your pain. Monitor, monitor. But don’t give in to the fear, okay? Let yourself eat sugar sometimes. Let yourself go for long walks and make plans. Let yourself live.”

“Okay,” Valerie whispered.

Alex squeezed her hand.

Valerie thought she was going to faint. Now that she knew everything was okay—for now—it was like the adrenaline in her was crashing, and she needed to sleep.

Valerie and Alex left the clinic and walked through the Nantucket Historic District with their hands clasped. They made silly jokes to one another and frequently burst into laughter that had nothing to do with anything else. When they decided to get an ice cream—the first real sugar Valerie had had in a while—they remembered how the women in the waiting room hadlatched onto his question about celebrity names and laughed even harder.

“That woman hates Kristen Bell!” Valerie said.

“What did Kristen Bell ever do to anyone?” Alex asked.

Valerie opted for cherry chocolate at the ice cream place, and Alex got pistachio. They walked along the boardwalk, eating with spoons as the October sunlight spilled over the harbor. Valerie felt floaty.

“So…” Alex glanced her way. “How are you feeling about writing that book with your dad?”

Valerie sensed he’d been wanting to ask her that for a while.

“I feel good about it,” Valerie lied.

“You sure?”

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