Page 76 of Nanny for the Doctor

Five days ago.

My stomach clenches hard, and a nervous pitter-patter steps up shop behind my sternum.

“Um, okay.” I try to slow my breathing. “No. This is fine. We’re just going to take this and see that it’s negative. Easy peasy.”

I take one of the pregnancy tests from the box and tear it open. It’s not the first time I’ve had a scare, so I know the drill.

Peeing on the little pad, I make sure it’s good and coated and then put the cap back on. I set it on the floor and finish things up while it cooks.

Rechecking the box, I see it’s the typical two-minute countdown.

These aren’t the digital readout ones. It’s pink lines, but I guess they can show results earlier because it’s not waiting for a certain threshold before it displays the wordpregnant.

“Stevie wants her info fast, I see.”

I don’t risk setting a timer on my phone, and instead, I just stare at the clock for the one hundred and twenty seconds.

The clock changes from 6:37 to 6:39, and I know it’s time to check it.

I don’t.

For another five minutes, hell, it feels like five years, I just stare at it on the floor.

“Christ, Mae. Just look.”

Shuffling toward the test, like I’m in a horror movie and it will attack me, I pick it up and check the lines.

“Two. Two lines.”

Scanning the instructions again in a feeble attempt to see if I’ve misread it, I nearly throw up.

“Pregnant.” Panic swirls as I clutch the test. “Fuck. No. Wait. How, though? We’ve used condoms or at least pulled out. I’m on birth control!”

But dread crawls up my spine as I consider how forgetful I am about taking it. In fact, I can’t even remember if I took it today.

“No. No! It’s a fluke. I’ll just—” I snag another test from the box “—I’ll take this one at home. It’ll be different.”

Rushing back downstairs, I quickly tell Johnny and Stevie I’m not feeling well, blaming the takeout, which Johnny takes as a personal slight.

Thankfully, they don’t fight it too much, and I can fly back to my apartment to take the other test.

Running a few yellow lights, I make it back to my place in record time and head straight for the bathroom. But after another two-minute test and a five-minute stall, the second test shows the same two pink lines as the other one.

“Fuck.”

I slump down to the floor, my ass hitting the tile hard. I drop my head to my knees, hiding from the world behind my arms.

“I’m on birth control. I mean, I take it pretty regularly. A few missed days now and then shouldn’t be enough to get me pregnant!”

However, getting laid on the regular had never been a concern in the past, so being lax with my pill-taking wasn’t a problem.

“The one place where I’m irresponsible for a few weeks, and this is what happens.”

I stand up, examining myself in the mirror.There’s a cluster of cells in there that are becoming a baby.

DoIwant that?

My brain is scrambled. What does this mean for my savings plan? For work? For getting my degree and becoming a teacher?

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