Page 59 of Flirting with the Stranger

“It’s located toward the back of the store.” She points to a giant restroom sign hanging on the wall.

“Thanks. We don’t need a bag.” Olivia grabs the boxes and hands them out to everyone as though she were Oprah. You get a pregnancy test and you get a pregnancy test. I wish it were cash because if I am pregnant, I’ll need some of that instead.

Before I realize it, the girls are strolling to the back of the store. I pick up my pace to catch up with them. “Wait. What are you guys doing?”

“You have some sticks to pee on.” Parisa holds up a box and shakes it.

“Here? Why here?”

“The sooner we find out, the sooner we can celebrate.” Olivia holds open the bathroom door and everyone enters, single file, with me following at the end.

“The bathroom at the drugstore?” My nose scrunches. I run my finger down the white painted metal of the stall and inspect the tip. At least, it’s fairly clean in here.

“What do you want? Candles and a bubble bath?” Parisa asks.

“That would be nice.” I nod.

Parisa tears into the boxes one at a time, pulling out a test from each one.

“Drink this.” Charlie shoves the bottle at my chest.

“Then pee on these.” She holds out several sticks of various shapes to me.

“If I’m pregnant, I’ll have to tell my child I found out about him or her while in a drugstore bathroom.”

“There are worse places. Plus, it’s not about the place, but that it happened. Now go.” Olivia rests her hands on my shoulders, twists me around, and pushes me toward an open stall.

I take a few steps until I’m inside the cramped stall. I rotate to close the door and move the lever to the left, locking it. With my hands full with a bottle of water and several pregnancy tests, I whirl around and wonder how I’m going to do this. I set the bottle of water on the toilet paper dispenser and with my free hand I undo the button of my jeans and shimmy them down my legs. I sit down, the cold seat sending a chill through my body. Or maybe it’s because I’m about to find out if I’m pregnant. I shove a stick between my legs, hold it there, and wait.

“What are you doing in there? Why don’t I hear pee yet?” Parisa calls out, her words echoing off the tiled walls.

“There’s not much room in here and I have a handful of pee sticks and now you’re all listening, so it’s a lot of pressure.”

Someone turns on the sink, who I’m assuming is Olivia, since she asks, “Does that help?”

“No. Not really.”

She shuts off the water. A few seconds of silence pass, and then it happens. After I’ve peed on one stick, I do a juggling act to hold a different one under the stream and by the third I only get a few lingering drops. Somehow, I’ve managed to hold the sticks in one hand while wiping and pulling up my pants with the other. With these multitasking skills, maybe I can handle having kids.

I step out of the stall and the three girls part like the Red Sea. I set the pregnancy tests on the sink and wash my hands. When I glance up into the mirror, everyone is staring at me, waiting for me to say something. Needing to fill the silence, I ask, “How long do we have to wait?”

Each of them flips a box over and reads the directions. “The one with the blue tip takes two minutes, and a plus sign means you’re pregnant,” Charlie says.

“The all-white one takes one minute. Two lines for pregnant,” Olivia says.

“The pink test takes three minutes, and it will tell you yes or no,” Parisa says.

I push off the sink and turn around. My feet carry me to the back wall of the small bathroom and I lean against the cool tile. The tests are still in view, but I’m too far away to read them. I can’t watch. My heart pounds so hard, I’m surprised it hasn’t busted through my rib cage. I want to know, yet I don’t. I slide the palms of my hands on my jeans, needing to do something, but mostly to dry the clamminess. As time passes, seconds feel like minutes and minutes are like hours.

What if I am pregnant? How will I tell Van? Will he be happy? What if after what happened with Josie he doesn’t want kids? What if he decides to sell the bakery and leave? I’ll be left with no job and a single mother. My pulse races as all these questions flit through my mind. I rest a hand on my belly. Whatever happens, happens for a reason.

“We’re here for you. No matter what it says.” Parisa wraps her arms around my shoulders.

“For anything.” Olivia hugs me on the other side.

Parisa rests her head on my shoulder. “I know this isn’t what you had in mind when you said you wanted to move forward.”

I drop my head to hers. “Not really. But oddly enough, it beats standing still.”

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