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92
You’re Late…Aagain
JOEY
Late.
I was late again, and it wasn’t fucking good enough. I was a disgrace. I knew it when I woke up this morning on the mattress in a pool of my own vomit, and I knew it now as I tried to find my way through the maze of corridors at the maternity hospital.
Going through the horrors of a particularly rough comedown, I used my sleeve to wipe the cold sweat beading my brow as I waited my turn at the receptionist’s desk.
“Yes?”
“I’m looking for the ultrasound department,” I mumbled, trying my hardest to keep my shit in order and look somewhat presentable. “I’m, ah, my girlfriend has an appointment.”
“Name?”
“Joey Lynch.”
“No, love. I need your partner’s name.”
“Oh, shit, yeah.” Swallowing roughly, I shook my head and said, “Aoife Molloy.”
The woman behind the desk clicked a few buttons on her computer before saying, “She already had her anomaly scan. She’s waiting for the consultant now. Straight down the corridor. Last door on the left.”
“Thanks.” Repressing a full-body shudder when a wave of nausea attacked me, I pushed it down and hurried off in the direction the lady had sent me.
After fumbling with a few doors, I finally located the right room and slipped inside. And there she was, sitting all alone in the consultant’s waiting room. The moment the door closed behind me, Molloy’s attention snapped my way.
“You’re late,” she accused, tears filling her blazing eyes.
“I know.” Guilt churned inside of me. “Can I come in?”
“What’s the point?” she tossed back bitterly. “It’s not like you’ll remember any of this.”
Fuck.
Shoving my hands through my hair, I closed the space between us and leaned in to kiss her.
“Don’t!” She turned away and my heart cracked clean open in my chest. “You’re high and you stink.”
“I’m not high,” I tried to persuade her. “I’m not, I swear, Aoife—”
“Don’t, Joe,” she choked out, holding a hand up to warn me off. “Just don’t.”
“How was the scan?” I asked, sinking down on the chair next to hers. “Is the baby okay?” I swallowed down another surge of bile and forced myself to look her in the eyes. “Are you?”
“The baby’s fine,” she replied, voice thick with emotion. “Where were you? This was an important scan, Joey.”
“I know,” I groaned, feeling like a piece of shit, as I pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “I overslept.”
“You mean you got high with Shane and your boys last night and forgot about us,” she snapped back, resting a hand on her bump.
The pieces of my heart cracked in my chest even more.
“When the doctor comes in, I don’t want you to say a word,” she instructed in a strained voice. “Just…just stay quiet and let me handle everything, okay? I don’t need another report going in against me.”
“Aoife, I’m so fucking sorry.”
