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“Not really,” I said. “She’s answered a few of my texts but still hasn’t called me back. She keeps saying she’s not mad or anything, but I don’t think I can believe her. If she’s not mad, why is she still ignoring me? God—why iseveryoneignoring me?”
“I’m not,” Michelle said. “And I promise I never will. Avoidance is not my style.”
I laughed. “That’s for sure. You’re the exact opposite of a conflict avoider. But look, I think I’m going to hang up and go find myself some real food. This sandwich I brought from home is not hitting the spot.”
“Go, go!” Michelle said. “Have a day to yourself. You deserve it.”
And with those words echoing in my head, I hung up the call, tossed my sad lunch into the garbage and walked out of my office.
* * *
David was walking into the building while I was walking out, forcing us to come face to face with one another for the first time since Monday night. We got so close that we almost collided. I let out a small little yelp and stepped back apologizing instinctively before I even looked up and noticed it was him.
“Oh,” I said. “Hey.”
“Hi,” he said politely.Toopolitely. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. It was my fault. I was looking down.”
“I was too,” he said. “We should probably both try to be a little more aware of our surroundings. You never know who you might run into.” He laughed, though I didn’t get the joke. “You never know who might be around you at all times, who might be listening in.”
I frowned. “I guess that’s true…”
“Anyway, I have to get back to work.” He walked past me and headed for the elevators at an impressive speed. “Have a nice weekend, Ms. McAvoy.”
Ms. McAvoy?
Was he serious? I couldn’t believe he was being so formal. After everything we’d been through, after all the times we’d had sex. It was so… hurtful. I was in so much pain that I called his name out through the lobby before he got the chance to step into the elevator. He turned to face me and waited for me to say what I was going to say next.
I eyed him for a few seconds, trying to come up with exactly the right thing to say that would really stick it to him. I wanted him to know that he hurt me, but also that I wasn’t going to let him do it again.
But nothing came to mind. My emotions were too overwhelming at the moment, there was only one thing I could think to say.
“I’m glad you got that dog. She’s really cute.”
His expression seemed to shift, but I was too far away to make out any of the details in what his face was trying to say. Then he nodded once, said thank you, and disappeared into the elevator.
* * *
Three weeks later, I had a check-up scheduled with my new doctor.
Michelle had mentioned that she had an STD scare—everything came back negative for her, thank God—and it got me thinking that I should probably get set up with someone in San Francisco. Especially if I was going to start going out again, as Michelle kept pushing me to do.
So, I made some calls, got an appointment, and now I was sitting on the exam table wearing nothing from the waist down, trying to come up with an answer to the question my new doctor had just asked.
“Huh?” I asked quietly, scratching my head. The question she asked me wasn’t a confusing one by any means, but still, it had completely thrown me for a loop. “Hmm…”
When did I last have my period?
“Are you all right?” the doctor asked again, scooting her wheeled chair a little closer to me. “Do you feel sick? You look a little pale.” She reached out and put the back of her hand on my forehead.
These questions I could at least answer. “I’m fine,” I said. “I’m not sick, I’m just doing some mental math, that’s all. Now that you mention it, I haven’t had my period in over a month. I should’ve gotten it by now I think…”
“It’s nothing to worry about,” the doctor said, smiling. “A lot of times our cycles change for many different reasons. Have you had any other major changes in your life? An increase in stress or a change of diet?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I started a new job maybe two months ago, give or take a week, and that came with a lot of new work, a lot of late nights, and my diet is totally different from what it used to be because I’m not used to being in the office at such odd times.”
“That’s it then,” the doctor said. “I’m sure you’ll get your period again soon enough, but just to be sure, we should probably issue a pregnancy test. We don’t like to take chances with this sort of thing, and our patients don’t either.”
