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‘Why don’t I go for you?’ he suggested but she was already shaking her head.
‘Thank you but I really need to do this by myself.’
* * *
‘Are you sure you have enough?’
Polly bit her lip. Maybe two each of five different brands was slightly excessive but she had to make sure. If Gabe was potentially harbouring an alien life form inside him he would want to know one hundred per cent too.
‘No.’ She twisted the bag nervously. ‘Do you think I should have got three of each?’
‘I think you should leave at least one test on the shelves, just in case someone else is tearing through the night in need of answers.’
‘Let’s just get home.’ She tugged impatiently at the car door, glaring at Gabe as he made no move to unlock it.
‘Are you sure?’
She stared at him. ‘What? You want to pop out for a nice meal first? Maybe go for a moonlight stroll? Of course I’m sure.’
He didn’t react. ‘I meant maybe you wanted to take the test now. Find out one way or another.’
‘Oh.’ How had he guessed?
Polly looked around the car park. There were several chain restaurants but they were all showing signs of closing for the night. Or the supermarket toilets; they would still be open.
She bit back a hysterical giggle. She had never actually imagined taking a pregnancy test, let alone taking it in the strip-lit anonymity of a supermarket loo. It wasn’t the cosy scene depicted in the adverts.
But then she wasn’t the hopeful woman on the advert either.
‘There’s nowhere here.’
‘Not here exactly.’ Finally he clicked the button and the doors unlocked. ‘We can find somewhere a little more salubrious than this.’
It took him less than five minutes to exit the car park and start back round the ring road, retracing their earlier route.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said as Polly looked worriedly at the sign pointing the way back to Hopeford. ‘I’ve got an idea.’
‘I trust you.’ And she did. Maybe because she had nobody else—not even herself.
At the Hopeford roundabout Gabe took a different exit, driving into the car park of a large redbrick building. Polly must have driven past it dozens of times but had never registered it before. Why would she? Anonymous roadside hotels offering business deals and cheap weddings weren’t her usual style.
‘Wait here.’ He was gone before she could formulate a reply. Resentment rose up inside her. Who was he to tell her what to do? She half rose out of her seat, determined to follow him, to regain control.
But no, she reminded herself, she had relinquished control, tonight at least. Polly sank back into her seat and tried to control the panicked race of her heart.
The bag was on her lap, the sharp edges of the boxes an uncomfortable fit against her thighs. Pulling out a handful, Polly turned them this way and that, reading the fine print on them curiously. Fancy being thirty-one and never having even properly seen a pregnancy test before!
But why would she have? She had been good to study with but she had never been the kind of friend others turned to. Not for panicked confidences and surreptitious tests in the school bathrooms or university toilets.
And she had never been the type to slip up herself. Not careful Polly Rafferty.
Not until now.
How could she have not known? Suspected that the bug she just couldn’t shift might be something more? But she had continued with the pills her doctor had prescribed her for her trip, relieved to be spared the inconvenience of her monthly cycle, and missed nature’s most glaring warning.
‘Okay,’ she muttered. How hard could taking one of these be? A blue line, two pink lines, a cross for yes. A positive sign? That was a little presumptuous. Another simply said ‘pregnant’. She swallowed, hard, the lump in her throat making the simple act difficult. Painful.
She jumped as a knock sounded on her window, muttering as the packets fell to the floor. She hastily gathered them up. They felt wrong, like contraband. It was as if just being seen with them branded her in some unwanted way.
Looking up, she saw Gabe. He must have seen her reading the packets. Heat flooded through her and she took a deep breath, trying her best to summon her usual poise.
She opened the door. ‘Hi.’
‘They have a room we can use.’ He stood aside as she got out of the car and waited while she gathered the dropped boxes, stuffing them into the carrier bag.
‘Won’t they wonder why we are checking in so late with no luggage?’
Gabe huffed out a short laugh. ‘Polly. They will think we are illicit lovers looking for a bed for an hour, or travellers realising we need a bed for the night. Or, more likely, they won’t think at all. Come on.’
