Page 77 of Reckless Liar

We went through her chart, height, weight, medication allergies, current medication, any drugs or alcohol in her system, last menstrual period.

“Why do you guys always need to know my period?” she snapped.

I turned away from her, directing my answer at her ankle. “Among other things, if you need to get X-rays, we need to make sure you’re not pregnant as it could be harmful to a fetus.”

“I’m not.” Her voice softened slightly at the admonishment. “I’m on my period now.”

I turned back to her and gave her my best professional smile. “Great. The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes.”

I briefed the doctor on the patient and retreated to the desk to write in her chart. I paused at the part about her period. I glanced at the calendar on the chart, counting the days a few times.

When was my last period?

I knew I had one in early February, and it ended right before Valentine’s Day. Xander was less embarrassed than I expected he’d be when I told him the reason that we’d need to hold off on sex for a few days. I counted the days, weeks really, since. A chill worked its way through me. I was over a week late. I’d stopped taking my pill a year before. There was no point when I wasn’t having sex with anyone. I kept meaning to go to my OBGYN, but things kept coming up to distract me from making the appointment.

Stupid! How could I be so stupid?

Xander and I used condoms most of the time, but there were a few times we didn’t have any.

Shit.

I vowed to run into the drug store, buy the test, and go straight home to take it after work. I wouldn’t tell Xander unless there was something to tell him.

An arm wrapped around my waist, squeezing me from behind. I twirled around to see Scarlett standing in front of me with a matching basket on her arm.

Scarlett glanced down at the basket, reaching in before I could stop her. “Isn’t this that blush that’s supposed to be the hack for NARS Orgasm?”

She pulled the blush out, shifting the contents of my basket. The test sat in the center, perfectly visible in the space where the blush was before. She stared down at the test for a moment, confusion lacing her face. “What...”

I pushed the bag of cotton balls on top of it quickly. Scarlett’s hand darted down and pulled the test out and held it up closer to her face. “Is this...” she glanced at me; her face still confused. “A pregnancy test?”

I sighed. “Obviously.”

Her brows furrowed. “Why would you...” she scoffed under her breath. “Girlie, what that fuck is going on here? Who are you hooking up with? And why didn’t you tell me you have some new guy in your life?”

“I don’t.” She raised an eyebrow at me, and I stammered. “I mean, it’s nothing, it was a one-time thing. A mistake.”

The lie scorched my mouth. The words felt so wrong to say. I wanted to tell Scarlett that it was the opposite. That what Xander and I had was permanent, that in the span of months he had become everything to me. But a busy drug store wasn’t the right place to have this conversation at all.

Scarlett laughed, “You little minx! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that you had a one-night stand.”

I struggled to come up with a response, blubbering nothings to her.

She put a hand up to silence me as she threw the test back into my basket. “Say no more, I get it. You were embarrassed. You’ve never had one before and it sucked and were too embarrassed to tell me.”

Her phone beeped in her purse, and she pulled it out to glance at it. “Shit.” She opened her purse and started shoveling the contents out, dumping them in my basket. With a jingle she pulled out a set of keys and narrowed her eyes at them. “I guess I took Emma’s keys and mine when I left. Shit, that’s the third time I’ve done that this month.”

I let out the strained breath I had been holding, relieved that I was being released from this line of questioning. I handed her the items she dumped into my basket. “Well, you’d better go rescue your damsel in distress. We’ll catch up soon.”

“Yes, we will.” She tossed her phone back in her purse and leaned forward kissing my cheek, “You still need to pick up your maid of honor dress from the shop.”

I nodded at her, glad for the change of subject. “I’ll be down on Tuesday, it’s my day off.”

“Good, you know what to do if it doesn’t fit, right?”

“It’ll fit, Scar. Plus, the wedding is two months away. I can figure something out in that time.”

She looked agog at my statement. Shaking her head at me. “I’m not even going to start in on how wrong that statement is.” She made a pointed look at my basket. “Let me know if you need anything, okay.” She raised her eyebrows. “Day or night.”

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