Since I have a doctor’s appointment at eleven thirty, I figure I can get everything done back to back. When I reach the office, she’s sitting in front of my desk, her belly hugely swollen. Instead of glowing with the joy of upcoming motherhood, she’s haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and limp hair. Her mint-green maternity dress hangs off her drooping shoulders, and the tip of her nose is red, as though she’s been crying a lot.
“Hi. You wanted to see me?” I say softly, taking my seat.
“Hello.” She sniffs. “Ugh. I don’t even know how to begin.”
“It’s fine. I know this is going to be…awkward.” I try to smile for her.
She exhales shakily. “Chad…” She presses her lips together. “He’s been cheating on me.”
I sigh. “I’m so sorry.” I can’t think of anything else to say. How do you comfort a pregnant woman who’s realized her husband is an unreliable, cheating scumbag?
“It isn’t your fault. He, uh, has other women. Yeah. Plural. They all thought he was single…and he promised tomarrythem”—her voice cracks—“just…stringing them along.” Tears drip from her eyes, and she angrily wipes them away. “I thought he was just busy, you know? Trying to build a better life for us and…and our baby.” She snorts a laugh. “Stupid, huh?”
I pluck a few Kleenex and hand them to her. “No. Not even a little. There’s no shame in trusting your husband.He’sthe one who betrayedyou.”
She shakes her head, still deep in self-recrimination. “I had to dig around—I thought what happened at the restaurant was just some misunderstanding or, orsomething…except nothing added up.” Her chin wobbles, then firms. “I want to divorce that son of a bitch. And I want to make ithurt. You know all the lawyers here, right? Who’s the nastiest? Like, the mostvicious? I’ll pay with blowjobs if I have to. I want to leave that bastard withnothing. Lessthan nothing. I want to take what’s left of hishair.”
Sweet Jesus. “I know just the man. Let me introduce you—personally—to Bryce Huxley. He’ll clean Chad out.”
Autumn flashes a small but genuine smile. “Great. Can’t wait.” She shifts. “By the way, I’m starting a Let’s Fuck Chad Up club and inviting all the women he lied to. The idea is to find various ways to disrupt his life and screw him the way he did us. You’re welcome to join anytime. It’ll be fun.”
*
You’re pregnant.
I keep rolling the two words around in my head. It seems like a joke, but the doctor was serious. Not only that, she even did a vaginal ultrasound to prove it, although how I’m supposed to know if those grainy dots were babies or not is beyond me.
And not just one baby. Twins!
I kill the engine in the garage and cover my mouth with a hand. How did this happen? Josh said he had a vasectomy. So how did these babies come about? They’re most definitely not Chad’s. They’re too young, which sounds sort of funny, given that they’re barely eight weeks old.
I would’ve never thought I was pregnant, but when food started to taste a bit off, I began feeling exhausted and my period didn’t come, I had to go in, just to be sure. And the doc wanted to check for pregnancy because vasectomies can fail.
“You heard about that famous case, right? The Hollywood producer? Seven kids with seven different women because his vasectomy failed—all in four months! If a Hollywood hotshot with all his money can get a bad vasectomy, why not your man?”
If the doc thought that would make me feel better, she was sorely mistaken.
I start to get out of the car, but there’s a call from an unknown number. Maybe from the police about Zoe’s death? They ruled it self-defense, but they needed to interview multiple times to make sure they had every detail for their records.
“Hello?”
“My gosh! It’s takenforeverto reach you!”
My stomach knots. “Mom?”
“Yeah! I missed you.”
I say nothing because I can’t say the same.
“So. When’s the wedding? Your father and I should be there. After all, you’re marrying into the Huxleys.”
“What happened to being a bad daughter and stealing your precious Katt’sfiancé?” I ask bitterly.
Mom laughs. “Are you holding on to a grudge? It’s unbecoming, dear. Unkind, even.”
“Do you get the news?”
“Of course.”
