AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She purses her mouth as she looks at the stream of paper on the top of the machine.
“Don’t be nervous. Everything looks okay here. You’re having contractions, but they’re irregular. Let’s get the exam out of the way, and we can talk about things.”
Thankfully, I don’t end up in the throes of an orgasm, and the exam is finished before I know it. Dr. Fischer washes her hands and leaves me to dress, returning moments later.
“Sock it to me, doctor.”
“Braxton Hicks contractions are perfectly normal during pregnancy. Think of them as practice contractions. From your exam, they are producing some mild changes to your cervix that I’d like to keep an eye on going forward. I’d like you to schedule your next appointment for two weeks from now. I’d also like you to keep a log either on your phone or in a notebook when you feel the contractions.”
“Is this as worrisome as it sounds?” I bite the edge of my thumbnail as loneliness intensifies again.
“It’ll probably amount to nothing. Just in case, I want you to give the hospital or me a call if you have regularly spaced contractions five to seven minutes apart that don’t get better with rest, if they become painful, or you experience bleeding.”
She clicks around on her computer and gets me a printout with this information. After bidding her goodbye, I schedule my next appointment in two weeks and get in my car to return to work.
Still no word from Nathan.
As much as I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, anger continues to well up inside me. A fountain without an off switch.
14
Kiersten
When I hear the fist pounding loudly on my front door, I contemplate ignoring it. Not because I’m nursing a bad mood. Though that’s part of it. My place on the couch feels perfect after cocooning my ass for the past hour and a half. The spot is warm, and curved around my hips, I have a pillow in the small of my back and one beneath my belly, and my throw blanket is tucked into all the right places. Plus, I have snacks. Delicious salty chips and a pile of chocolate I dug from my useless period stash. Who in their right mind would get up when they have snacks? I’ve even delayed bathroom breaks as long as possible. Though that’s getting harder to do as the little man uses my bladder as a trampoline.
My phone has also been ringing nonstop, an unwelcome interruption to the nap I’ve looked forward to since I left the clinic and went to work for twelve hours. The stress of the morning drained the life right out of me. Or maybe the baby zaps all my energy.
Like father, like son.
One dramatic eye roll reminiscent of a diva escapes while the noise continues.
“What!” I screech over the sound of the sitcom on my television, knowing the racket maker can hear me just fine.
“Let me in!” Nathan shouts back. He sounds more pissed than I think I’ve ever heard him. The mature thing would be to get up and let him in, but let’s be real. When have I ever been known to be mature?
“Go away!”
“So help me god, Kiersten. Open the damn door!”
My teeth snare my lip to stifle a giggle. He said damn. So cranky.
“Your cursing is only sexy when you’re fucking me!”
A noise comes through the wood, sounding a bit like a deep laugh and a growl. I wish I knew which one. He won’t go away. He’ll stand there until I face him and hear what he has to say.
Seconds later, the lock snicks, and my front door swings open.
“Hey! Who turned you into a magician?”
Nathan barrels through and kicks my door shut with his brown booted foot while my spare key dangles from his index finger. I forgot that was out there. That fake rock thing blends in so well with the real ones that I couldn’t select it from a lineup.
“Are you okay?” he rumbles deeply, his brow creased and eyes sad. His arms hang loose at his sides as if he doesn’t know what to do with them and forgot they exist.
“Why don’t you sit?” I scooch back in my cocoon and pat the now empty space with my painted toes.
“Is our baby okay?”
His statement softens my frustrated heart. Calling him ours, instead of yours or mine, makes me feel more like a team. Like we’re in this together, even when he can’t get his shit together and be there for me.
