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“I might be the only guy with a period tracker on my phone.”
“Will, you are a riot. Yes, I’m late. What do you think?”
“Let me examine you.”
“No! Get the hell away from me,” she cried, laughing hysterically.
“I don’t get it. You let me go down there for fun, and when I really need to, you won’t allow it. What gives?”
“Just keep your distance,” she said, amused. “You can come to the bathroom with me if you want. I’m not shy about that anymore.”
“I’m so excited,” he said, laughing.
“I know, and I don’t want to disappoint you if it’s negative.”
“I’ll be fine. We’ll share it together.”
“Okay, here goes.”
They went to the linen closet, where the extra pregnancy tests were stored. There was only one left.
“I hope this is the charm,” she said. “Last box out of five.”
He embraced her, nuzzling the top of her head with his chin. “Baby, we want you.”
“Yes, we want you so badly,” Laura said, opening the box. She pulled out the package, not needing to read the directions again. She unzipped, Will looking away to give her a little privacy while she stuck the stick between her legs and urinated on it.
“Okay, two minutes,” she said, handing him the clean end of the stick.
She pulled up her pants and washed her hands while they waited.
“Okay, countdown to two minutes,” Will said, squatting so his head would be level with hers. Posed in that stance with heads together, they watched two pink lines form in the little window of the stick.Pregnant.
Will began to cry, his face contorting, hugging her with one arm while looking over his glasses to see the stick through his tears.
“I can’t believe it,” Laura said, in shock. “I just can’t believe it. We’re gonna have a baby, Will!”
***
Pam sat on the veranda in spite of the cold, the firepit blazing, an afghan wrapped around her shoulders. For the past week, she’d vacillated between seething anger and abject sadness; Dan was once again history in her life as a companion and a lover. At least this time, he’d told her he was seeing someone else instead of allowing her to find out on her own.
She’d had a feeling something was going on. Right after Lily Porter had been announced missing, they’d made passionate love that afternoon, and then that was it; he’d disappeared. She’d tried calling him later, and he’d never returned her call. And then Dan had admitted that he was seeing Alan Stone’s ex-fiancée already, that they’d hooked up at the Italian bakery.
Devastated, Pam had tried to make light of it but lost the battle. She loved Dan and had allowed him into her life over and over again, only to be hurt when he tired of her and moved on. It was her own fault. The key now would be trying to find a way to stay single for as long as possible.
And then Pam had had the misfortune of seeing the woman up close on the beach one morning at nine o’clock. They had passed each other, running. Shelly Markham was young enough to be her daughter, and beautiful, of course. Her body was lean, and she had small breasts high on her chest, clearly seen in the skintight spandex she wore.
She’d had auburn hair in a ponytail, with a thick white headband and dark glasses, and when she’d passed Pam, she’d smiled at her like she knew who she was. It was unnerving. Pam would avoid running in the morning from now on.
Sipping coffee, she looked out over the water, dreading the futility breakups with Dan always caused. It would take her more than a few days to return to her routine. It had been such a rough week anyway, consumed with memories of Brent and Lisa as children, and how she’d missed out on chances she should have taken to be more engaged with them.
The oddest thing was that she’d almost ceased to remember that Brent had existed, and digging out his old baby pictures had forced her to remember details of her pregnancy and his birth, his first day of kindergarten, high school, college, all his milestones. Unless someone mentioned his name, it was like he was only in her imagination.
Chuckling, she remembered Jack taking Brent to get his driver’s license. He’d taken the day away from the city, a big sacrifice for Jack, and when they returned home after passing the test with Brent in the driver’s seat, Jack had been so happy, he was waving the certificate.
He’d never bought the children their own cars, though, wanting to keep them dependent for as long as possible. It wasn’t until Brent left for college that he’d gotten the car. Jack had been so proud! He’d had a misplaced sense of accomplishment, thinking that buying his son a car meant more than giving him an example of a healthy moral character.
Her cell phone rang, and she lifted her hand out from under the afghan. It was Lisa.
