Page 33 of Love Me Forever

One Month Later

Oceanwell Bay

"Take care of yourself, Mom. Okay?" I asked, recognizing that I was being dismissed.

"Sure, sure." Mom sounded distracted.

I sighed as I disconnected the call, pocketing my phone. I was trying to determine if she was in trouble—she only pestered me when she needed money.

Unfortunately, Mom had a gambling addiction. Dad said her gambling used to be innocent, just a bit of fun when they first met. At least, that was what he thought. Gradually, it broke down their marriage. The last straw had been when he’d found out that Mom lost our house. Needless to say, they divorced soon after. Nowadays, she attended a gambling addiction program, but it didn’t help much. I'd learned over the years to never give her money directly—I preferred to order groceries for her online and have them delivered.

As I went out the door, I was feeling slightly light-headed. Honestly, I'd been a bit down lately. It started last week with an overall weakness and headaches. I kept waiting to get sick so I could get better again, but it wasn’t happening. The sensation of being permanently weak persisted.

I hadn't had breakfast, so I wanted to stop by the bakery truck as usual. But as I approached it, the smell overpowered my senses. Nausea hit me like a train. I knew I should eat something, but at the moment, it felt like I couldn't keep anything down. This had to be a stomach bug.

I greeted Alan but walked quickly past the cart. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed his disappointment. I’d explain everything next time—as long as I didn’t feel like throwing up.

Usually, once I started work, I managed to energize myself and focus on my tasks and forget all about the fact that I was feeling unwell. But today, it was impossible.

The longer I stayed on my feet, the more light-headed I felt. The smell of medicine was even worse than the food. I retched twice, but nothing came out.

“You should go to a doctor,” Dante said just before lunch.

I’d nearly fainted in the pool. We’d released Steve last week, but we had an adorable new addition—another dolphin. He was younger than Steve and wasn’t liking our pool quite as much. I’d nicknamed him Bobby.

“I will.”

I used my lunchtime to get to the pharmacy. There was a general practitioner in Oceanwell, but he wasn’t open today. I hoped the pharmacy would have something that could help me. I knew I had to eat, and that probably accounted for the fact that I was light-headed, but the nausea persisted.

The pharmacy was two blocks away from the clinic, so I could grab lunch afterward and still have plenty of time to get back to work. The shop was on the ground floor of an old building. There used to be an apothecary here, and they'd preserved a lot of the original furniture. It looked like I'd just stepped back in time.

"Hello? How may I help you?" a woman singsonged from behind the counter. She seemed to be only a few years older than me.

"Hey, I've been feeling a bit sick lately. It started last week. I keep thinking I'm going to get the flu or a stomach bug, but I don't. I just feel bad all the time."

"What are your symptoms?"

"I'm light-headed a lot," I said, walking up to the counter. "I also have nausea from time to time. It seems worse when I'm around strong smells. I'm not even sure if you can give me something."

"It does sound like you might be coming down with a stomach bug. I can give you something for that." She turned around, looking at the rack of medicine behind her. Then she turned again, looking at me. "There is, of course, also the possibility of pregnancy."

I stared at her. "No, that's not a possibility."

"If you’re sure, then we can cross that off."

My heart thundered in my chest. Iwassure, right? I hadn't had unprotected sex. Travis and I always used a condom.

"When was the last time you had your period?" she asked me, practically voicing my thoughts.

I grabbed the phone from my bag with trembling fingers and opened my calendar. I marked the first day of every period as “pink day.”

"Six weeks ago." My voice sounded strangled, like it didn't even belong to me.

"I've got a few things here for you," the pharmacist said. Putting two sets of pills on the counter, she explained to me what each did. I was only half listening, my pulse so fast that I was sure I’d faint.

"Do you also want me to put a pregnancy test in your bag, just in case?" she asked.

I stared at her numbly for a few seconds before nodding. I just knew it couldn't be. I wanted kids dearly, but only after I found my soul mate, got married, and preferably owned a house. It couldn’t be. But the panic gripping my body told me another story. There was always a possibility of birth control failing.

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