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Despite his attitude, we were set to complete his project within the next few days, well within the timeframe allotted. Even my critical eye could find no fault with our product, although I doubted he would credit us even if he agreed.
It was on Monday morning, when I opened a fresh pill-pack, that I realized I didn’t get my period. Barrett had already left for the clinic, and I was in the apartment by myself, which was a good thing. I preferred my freak-outs minus witnesses.
I stood in the bathroom staring at the new pill-pack in my hands as if it held the answer to my missing period. I frantically thought back trying to remember if I missed any pills. I hadn’t. I swallowed down the pill and went to sit on my bed.
My body felt like some foreign, sluggish thing that didn’t belong to me. My concept of where my body should be in space, and where my body actually was in space, did not line up, like a printer out of alignment. An odd sense of betrayal, as if my body had contrived to work against me, prodded me with anxious fingers. A hint of cigarette smoke teased my nostrils. Could I be pregnant? The short answer was, yes, of course, we’d had sex, therefore I could be pregnant. Was it likely? No, it was not.
I paced the length of my bedroom. It was a short walk. What if I was pregnant? I clapped a hand over my mouth, horrified. I should not have taken the pill! That could hurt the baby. If there is one!
I checked the time. It was still early. I hurried through the rest of my morning routine and left with twenty minutes to spare, plenty of time to stop by the pharmacy and pick up a pregnancy test.
I couldn’t recall the drive to the store, finding the test, or paying. Lost in the past, worrying over the possibilities for the future, the same old recriminations playing on repeat in my head, I did not come back to the present until I noticed my hand shaking as I held the test between my legs to catch my pee.
Five minutes later I breathed a sigh of relief, relief that was heavily stained with disappointment. ‘Interesting’, my detached mind noted. I’d never planned on having a child. I’d thought about it, as part of my stolen moments for my wildest fantasies, but I couldn’t, in good conscience, assure myself that I could properly parent a child. I pushed my disappointment down and tacked my missing period up to stress.
Asshole client called shortly afterwards, demanding five minutes at ten a.m. I wanted to deny him out of principle, but the time slot was open, and it would be foolish to further anger a client as well-known and powerfully connected as this one.
Junie and I had been ecstatic when we’d landed the account. I was getting the idea that it was not our talent that got us the job, but the fact that we were young, female, attractive, and he foresaw adding fringe benefits to our association. I almost felt sorry for him. Junie was going to eviscerate him soon if we didn’t wrap this up. I was afraid of what Minty might do. Classy and reserved on the outside, she possessed a will of iron and precious little tolerance for bullshit.
Fortunately, the meeting went off without a hitch beyond his usual rudeness to Minty and his disdain for our small office. Minty made eyes at us to suck it up and get him out, and we did.
As a reward for the impressive self-control we had exercised, we hung the closed for lunch sign on the door and headed two doors down to Spud’s.
Ruby was not her usual smiling self but was sitting despondently at a table when we stomped through her door full of piss and vinegar.
She took one look at us and waved us over. “Join my pity party. Sit your butts down and tell me your troubles.”
“Are you like a bartender? People spill their troubles to you?” Junie joked.
Ruby shrugged. “It’s a potato bar, people get confused when they’re waiting, they tell me their troubles.”
Minty sat down beside her, Junie and I took the chairs opposite.
“What’s wrong, Ruby?” Minty asked, rubbing a slow circle over her back.
Ruby sighed. “Franchise trouble.”
Junie’s eyebrows went up. “You’re looking to franchise this place?”
Ruby snorted. “Trying to. It’s not going all that well at the moment.”
“For what it’s worth, I think you’ve got an excellent concept with this place,” I offered.
“Thanks,” Ruby replied, “I think so, too. I’ve run this place since I was twenty years old. I’m ready to take it to the next level, get out from behind the counter.”
“Can we help?” Junie offered, “With marketing or design?”
“Thanks, Junie. I’ll definitely let you know,” she smiled tiredly. “Now. Tell Ruby what’s brought you three stomping in here like you’re ready to bite some poor, unsuspecting potato in half?”
Minty scowled, “Asshole client!”
All three of us looked at her in astonishment and then laughed. She sat primly, her small, secret smile on her face. “You cannot deny that today he was particularly obnoxious?”
“No, he was!” Junie assured her. “I’m just not used to hearing you swear.”
She shrugged. “It’s what you both call him in the office. In my head, he’s ‘asshole’. I’m not even sure what his real name is anymore.”
Ruby laughed. “I love you, Minty. I do.” She hugged her sideways and stood, “What can I get you guys to eat?”
