Page 30 of My Girlfriend is Not the Father

‘Hey. Sorry to bother you,’ she said and sucked in a deep breath. ‘I really need some help.’

Chapter 12

Jade

Jade took a moment to process Lucy’s voice. It sounded smaller than she’d heard before. When she saw Lucy’s name on the screen, Jade thought for a hot second that she had called Lucy by accident. Ever since she’d stormed out last week, she’d been feeling terrible. Every day Jade had wanted to pick up the phone and explain her feelings, but she felt like such a shit that she couldn’t bring herself to contact Lucy.

‘Are you okay?’ Jade asked as she propped her phone on the holder and pulled out of the salon parking lot.

‘I’m hard core on the struggle bus. One-way ticket to Failure Island.’

She moved into the left lane. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I know this is really weird, and well, things didn’t exactly end as peachy-keen as they could’ve last time we talked, and trust me when I say that you are my very, very last resort, although that sounds super mean, and I don’t mean it like that—’

‘Jesus, just spit it out.’

A large exhale filled Jade’s ear. ‘Can you please come over? I’m, um, having a bit of a … medical issue.’

The small crack in Lucy’s voice gripped Jade. She whipped a U-turn at the yellow light and accelerated. ‘I’m on my way.’

She was less than ten minutes from Lucy’s house – plenty of time to really feel like crap about how she left Lucy’s place. Lucy deserved an explanation. It wasn’t like they were dating or anything. But they had gotten close, and for Jade to stop all conversation in a snap after Lucy shared something vulnerable wasn’t fair.

Although Lucy hadn’t reached out either.

But … now she had. Grrr. Should Jade break down and tell this woman about her trust issues, and self-doubt, and imposter syndrome, and that she really liked Lucy, which scared her, and that was why Jade was so weird, and that her ex had broken her, but really, she was equally to blame for the brokenness, and she really wanted to keep kissing her last week, but now she was overthinking and …

Or maybe she should just keep her mouth shut. Solid plan.

She pushed the gear into park and made it up the porch in two steps – long legs for the win. She knocked and Lucy whipped open the door, a rose-gold robe snugged around her body, her hair wrapped high on top of her head, her face flushed.

She was seriously so damn pretty.

‘I’m so sorry.’ Lucy pulled Jade in and shut the door behind her, her voice rushed. ‘And I’ll explain in a bit, but I’m on a huge time crunch, and, um, are you scared of needles?’

Needles? Jade held out her arms, her full-sleeve tattoos on display. ‘What do you think?’ She grinned. ‘I live for needles.’

Lucy exhaled. ‘I have to give myself a shot, and I can’t. I’m freaking out, but I don’t want to freak out. The last thing I need right now is to increase my blood pressure and reject this shot, but I’m already over an hour past the time I’m supposed to take it, and I can’t.’

Jade nodded. She wasn’t totally ignorant about what it took for surrogacy. When Elizabeth had originally brought up having a baby, she rambled on about the IVF process. As much as Jade tried to ignore her wife at the time, some of the information had sunk in. ‘You need me to shoot you?’

Lucy’s mouth twisted, and she glanced at the floor. ‘I mean, if you don’t mind?’

This was going on the top five list of odd requests. Not as odd as when a man came in and asked her to dye his pubes magenta. But still, odd.

Lucy’s pleading face struck a chord deep within Jade and suddenly, she wanted to scoop Lucy into her arms. Jade’s superpower had always been staying calm in the face of a storm. That was how she’d handled things when one stylist accidentally clipped a kid’s ear, or when she had a screaming toddler in the chair. Her motto: Calm in the moment. Freak out after.

‘No problem at all. Where’s the medication?’

A sigh of relief released from Lucy. ‘Really?’

Sure, Jade had never stuck anyone with a needle and the thought was nerve-wracking as hell, but was that going to help the situation? No. Lucy already looked like she was about to fall on the floor. Jade nodded.

Lucy led the way to the bathroom.

Whoa … it must have been thirty degrees colder in the house than it was outside. Jade shivered.

‘Sorry,’ said Lucy. ‘I was sweating like a damn pig.’