“What have you eaten to make you so sick?”
“Not sure,” I mumbled. “I barely ate any food.”
And I puked a couple of times already, but decided it would not be wise to share that information. I exhaled and leaned back into my seat tiredly. I felt so tired and drained. I hadn’t felt so sick and drained since...
Oh my God! Oh my God!I drew in a deep breath, again and again. I hadn’t felt like this since I was last pregnant! It wasn’t my anemia. Maybe?
“What?” Kristoff asked.
I blinked at him confused. “What?” I questioned him.
“You said, ‘Oh my God, Oh my God’.”
I didn’t realize I’d spoken out loud. I glanced at him, his eyes on the road, and for a second I debated whether I should tell him. I shook my head.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I… I forgot to do something,” I replied weakly.How could I have been so stupid! It can’t be. My Ob/Gyn said chances were one in a billion… or was it one in a million?
“I’m sure it can wait, whatever it is,” he answered.
I nodded in the haze.
I have to slow down. It could be nothing. I’m jumping to conclusions.
I attempted to shut down all my thoughts whirling in my head. I’d have to think about this later when I am alone. Although I hadn’t taken a pregnancy test, I had an uneasy feeling I wouldn’t have to search long for answers to my nausea.
“Gemma, why didn’t you tell me you were having lunch with Rick?” Kristoff asked in a hard voice stopping the voices in my head. “You can imagine my surprise when on my way back from the lunch meeting, I see you and Rick through the window.”
“I knew you wouldn’t like it.” That was not a good explanation at all. “I talked to him two weeks ago. Kristoff, I don’t want to lose him.”
Kristoff’s lips thinned, and I knew I expressed myself wrong.
“What I meant…”
“Save it, Gemma… that was exactly what you meant,” he cut me off in a hard tone, and then added. “I’d like to discuss the contract tomorrow, when you feel better.”
We drove the rest of the journey in silence although I felt like my thoughts were shouting loud in my head. Before long, we were pulling up around my driveway, in front of the front door. He got out of the car and came around to open the door for me. I took his outreached hand and stepped out of the car.
“Thank you, Kristoff,” I mumbled. I couldn’t get a sense of what he was thinking except that he was furious. As I was debating whether to try to iron out misunderstanding, my front door opened and my youngest ran out the door into my arms.
“Gemma.” My mother-in-law came out the door. “You are home already?”
I kissed Sierra on her forehead absentmindedly and answered her grandmother. “Ah, yes. I was feeling a bit sick. This is Kristoff, my boss… Kristoff, this is my mother-in-law, Laura. Summer break starts tomorrow and today was an early dismissal so she is watching the girls for the summer.”
After introductions, they shook hands, and to prevent any other questions, I turned to Kristoff. “Thank you for driving me home. I’m sure I’ll be better by tomorrow.” Sierra waved to him and blew him a kiss. Kristoff smiled and returned the gesture. I silently thanked God that Saoirse nor Sienna came out. They would have been all over him.
I nudged everyone into the house and shut the door firmly with one last glance behind me, seeing Kristoff drive off. It was kind of metaphorical. I felt like I lost him. Although I never had him… not really.
As soon as Kristoff was gone, I sent a text to Rick asking about his eye. My phone rang right away.
“Hey,” I answered, seeing Rick’s name. “How are you feeling?”
“Good, some frozen meat on it and all gone,” he joked referring to his black eye.
“Is Betty mad?” I asked.
“No,” he chuckled. “I think she’s impressed.”
“She’s crazy,” I claimed. “But then we knew that since she’s friends with me.”