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“Just one slice?”
“For now. I’ve not been having much of an appetite lately.”
That was partly a lie - Marigold always seemed to be hungry - but she ended up puking up not long after. It was hard to keep anything down that wasn’t bland. Marigold was fed up running to the bathroom. Whatever stomach bug she had picked up was making her feel like shit. She should have stayed at home to get better, but the taxes needed to be done, and Marigold was getting behind. She didn’t have many options.
A vacation once the taxes were sent in sounded like a very good idea. That and lots of sleep.
“Okay.” Not looking convinced, Allison put a slice of veggie pizza onto a napkin and brought it across. “And please make sure you eat. You’ve been making me worried about how little you’ve been eating, and you normally wolf anything and everything down.”
Marigold didn’t respond. She just took the slice and immediately the smell of the pizza went up her nostrils. Her stomach churned and coiled tight, and Marigold felt it going straight up her esophagus. Putting a hand over her mouth, she dropped the slice onto her desk and staggered away, heading towards the bathroom. She got there in time to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet. There wasn’t much, so it was mostly bile that came up. It burned her throat, and the sensation just set her off again.
When it finally passed, Marigold sagged onto the floor and closed her eyes. Damn, that never got any better. She couldn’t even enjoy her favorite pizza without her stomach complaining about it.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“Marigold?”
Slumping back against the stall wall, Marigold looked up to see Allison in the doorway. Her friend looked concerned as she knelt beside her.
“You okay?”
“I’ll live.” Marigold swallowed, feeling the bile still burning her throat. “I guess I won’t be having pizza, after all.”
“You’ve been going to the bathroom to puke quite a bit lately.”
“It’s just a bug. It’ll pass eventually.”
But Allison didn’t look convinced. She frowned.
“I’ve seen you when you’re ill, and I’ve never seen you get sick just by smelling something.”
“Well, it’s happening now.” Marigold pressed her fingers to her temples. She was getting a headache again. “I hope it’ll pass soon. It’s driving me insane.”
“If this is what I think it is, it’s not going to pass for a while. Might be a few months before the sickness passes, but it could be years until you feel relatively normal.”
“Don’t be so morbid, Allison. It’s not life-threatening.”
“It can be if you’re suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. You’re not getting the nutrients in, and it leaves you dehydrated.”
“Hyper..what?”
“Extreme morning sickness.”
It took a second for Marigold to clock what she had just said.
“Are you saying I’m pregnant?”
“It’s possible. You did have a one-night stand at Christmas, didn’t you?”
“But the guys wore protection.”
“And there’s still a slight chance of getting pregnant. You know that.”
She was pregnant? Marigold didn’t believe that. But a small part of her realized that it made sense. She had been throwing up, getting nauseous over smells that wouldn’t have made her sick before...
And her period hadn’t arrived for some time. Marigold had forgotten about it as she had been getting super busy with work, but now she recalled not having a period since the start of December.
Shit. Was that the reason she was sick as a dog?
