Page 50 of Tempting Bo
“Kenzieisfamily,” Hailey insists, her smile never wavering. “I know it’s a little unconventional, but trust me, Kenzie is like another daughter to me. You two will practically be sister in laws!”
I ignore the twinge of pain in my chest at the very thought. This is all just a game.
Play along.
I wrap my arm around Savannah’s shoulder and pull her in close with a friendly squeeze. She makes a noise kind of like a drowning rat and goes stiff in my arms.
“And I can’t wait to plan a baby shower for you with Oakley!” I say brightly. “You’re okay with it, right? I just want to be here to support you.”
Andrea wavers, her thin face still pinched in disapproval. She can tell that Hailey won’t be swayed from this, and finally nods, accepting defeat.
“Come on, gang, we don’t want to be late for this!” Hailey says exuberantly.
We all file out of the diner, Hailey filling the silence with cheerful babble. The clinic really is nearby, and the walk is short. Just long enough for the chill to creep under my jacket, but not long enough to have my teeth chattering against each other.
The warmth of the lobby is welcome.
It’s just as clinically sterile and bland as any other doctor’s office, posters about women’s health and the growth cycle of a fetus framed on the walls beside cheerful little welcome signs and drawings from several different kids. It’s definitely a comforting place for someone pregnant, a sense of certainty that everyone here knows what they’re doing and cares about their job hanging in the air.
Savannah looks like she wants to vomit, and it’s not from morning sickness.
Hailey herds her to the front desk and gets her all checked in as Andrea and I sit awkwardly, several chairs separating us. It’s not long before we get called back and settled into a small room. A portable ultrasound machine takes up one corner, a light blue bed covered in a white paper sheet lying next to it.
A technician joins us, a wide smile on her face, and talks Savannah through the steps. Hailey and I linger off to one sideof the room, watching silently as Andrea takes a seat beside Savannah and holds her hand supportively.
Savannah gets up on the bed and obediently pulls her shirt up and her shorts down, baring her flat stomach. She’s practically shivering with nerves.
“It’ll be a little cold and I’ll have to apply some pressure in a few places,” the technician warns, “but nothing will hurt.”
Savannah looks like a scared kid right now, clutching onto her mother’s hand like she’s worried she’ll get lost at the fair. All of her argumentative attitude has drained away, leaving her nothing more than a girl about to be confronted with the truth.
She looks so terrified that I almost feel bad, but the memory of my heartbreak is still too fresh for guilt to take hold.
There’s no guilt for what she did to me, no apology in the look she sends me. She’s still only thinking of herself, her own selfish desires, her own cruel plans. I would have been nothing more than a footnote in her story if she got away with this.
She won’t get away with it.
The tech places the little probe against Savannah’s bare stomach. She sucks in a breath and digs her nails into her mother’s hand. The screen fills with a mix of black and gray shapes.
She says nothing as she moves the probe, snapping stills on the machine of various different angles. I have no clue what I’m looking at, and nerves build in my gut, too. What if we’re wrong? What if Savannah’s been telling the truth this whole time? Will Bo really stand by his word? Will he stand by me?
“Alrighty, the doctor will be in shortly to discuss the images with you,” the tech says pleasantly.
The four of us stay silent as we wait for the doctor to come in, awkward and uncertain of what’s about to happen. Hailey grabs hold of my hand and brushes her thumb soothingly across my knuckles. It’s the only thing that keeps me from pacing thelength of the room as we wait. Thankfully, the wait isn’t long, and a doctor who looks to be in his mid-forties steps into the room with a warm smile.
He introduces himself, but I can’t hear anything over the rushing of my own pulse. Is she pregnant or not?
My senses slowly fade back in as he takes the probe in his own hand, talking to Savannah quietly as he looks through the same incomprehensible blob of black and gray. After what feels like hours, he finally pulls the probe away and strips his gloves off.
“Well, Ms. Ward, as far as I can tell, there’s no sign of pregnancy,” he says, and I sigh so harshly I worry my lungs will come out of my throat. “You said you’re nearly four months along?”
“I—yes, I took a test!” she insists. “My other ultrasound showed things were progressing normally, I went last week!”
The doctor glances between Savannah and the rest of us, seemingly unsure of what to say. I doubt he knows the details of why we’re all here, but it’s a small town, and rumors spread like wildfire.
It wouldn’t be surprising if he knewsomething.
“All I can say is that there’s no signs of pregnancy, Ms. Ward.”
