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Violet sniffs the air and quirks her brow up. “I don’t smell anything. Just the usual.” She gives me a long, slow look and grins. “Anything you want to tell me?”
I put my phone and hoodie away, frowning at her expression. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No reason.” She’s smiling full force now, and I’m still confused, but I don’t get a chance to question her when Harold claps his hands.
“Get to work, ladies. We’ve got a full house, and Faye is in the weeds.”
Violet and I drop our conversation and jump in to help Faye. The air in the diner is stifling by the time we’re finally able to take a break when there’s a lull between customers. I’m sweating and fanning myself with a menu when a party of four guys who look like they’ve been trudging through mud all day walk in, and I lead them to a booth. They smell ripe, and my stomach churns. I try not to breathe through my nose as I take their order.
“Here ya go,” I say as I set their massive plates of bacon and eggs in front of them. “Is there anything else I can get y’all?”
Thank god they shake their heads and dig into their food because I’m losing the battle with my stomach. I barely make it to the bathroom in time before everything I’ve eaten today comes up. I’m still hunched over the toilet, praying the worst of it is over, when Violet barges inside.
“I knew it! I freaking knew it!” She cackles and bends to rub my back, a huge smile overtaking her face. The smell of her shampoo or body wash pushes me over the edge, and I vomit again.
“Knew what?” I groan as I flush the toilet and push away from it to sit on my butt against the wall. I already feel so much better after getting everything out. “Why are you smiling? I probably have a stomach bug, and you’ll catch it too if you don’t leave.”
“That ain’t no stomach bug, Dolly. You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
I freeze, my eyes going round as I mentally calculate how long it’s been since Wyatt and I first had sex. “No, I can’t be.”
“Oh yeah, girly. Definitely pregnant. I knew it!”
“Quit saying that! I can’t be pregnant. I’ve only been with Wyatt for three weeks. Three weeks! It doesn’t happen that fast…right?”
“How long has it been since you had your last period?” Violet studies me as I count backward, her grin growing wider when I jolt at the realization that my last period was two weeks before my birthday.
“Oh my god, I might be pregnant,” I whisper.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!
“Ha! Like I said, I knew it!”
“But…how?”
She cocks her head to the side. “Did your parents forget to give you ‘the birds and the bees’ talk?”
“No, I mean, I know how babies are made, but how did it happen so fast? It can take months, and we haven’t known each other that long.”
Violet’s smile dims, her eyes turning glassy when she says, “For some people, yes, it can take months to get pregnant. Sometimes, even years, like with me and Jared. But for others, it can happen the first time you have sex.”
“I can’t believe it,” I whisper, then reach for her hand, squeezing it in silent support, and she squeezes mine back.
Faye bursts through the door, her brows dipping in concern when she finds me on the floor. I can only imagine what a mess I look like after throwing up, crumpled on the bathroom floor.
“We just got a huge wave of customers, and I’m back in the weeds. You good?” she asks me, and I nod, though I’m not so sure I am.
“Yeah, I’ll, um, be right out.”
Faye nods and leaves us as I move to stand, splash water on my face, and gargle some to get the nasty taste out of my mouth.
Violet moves behind me to smooth out my ponytail, catching my eye in the mirror, her normal playful grin back on her face. “You’ll believe it once you take a pregnancy test. We can pick one up on the way to your place after work. I promise, if you are pregnant, everything is going to be ok. Wyatt will be so excited, and I think you will be, too, once you get over the shock of it.”
I turn and swallow Violet in a hug. “Thank you…for everything.”
She throws her arms around me, returning the hug, and we rock back and forth a few times. “You got it, besty. Anytime.”
* * *
