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Vanessa stood.
“Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I owe this to Lenny. He has pulled me out of my dark places too many times. Whatever you decide to do, I won’t be contacting him again.”
I’d never seen Junie at such a loss for words. Vanessa took the two steps necessary to bring her up close into Junie’s space and for the first time since I’d known her, Vanessa’s perfect facade cracked.
“Be smart!” Vanessa hissed, her pain and her sacrifice clear in that moment.
Junie turned her face away and stepped back.
Another first.
Vanessa spun on her heel and without looking at anyone, walked out the door.
Minty reached Junie first and wrapped her arms around her as the first sob ripped from her chest.
I locked the door and hung the ‘Closed for Lunch’ sign on it while Minty led Junie into the back room. Over the next hour, Junie purged her memory of every mama’s boy, alpha-hole, book nerd, and tech geek who had tried to mold her into their perfect woman.
When she stopped crying, she sat back in her chair and stared out the window, eyes swollen, her face so pale it was almost translucent save for the mottled red splotches on her neck and her cheeks. Her mouth sagged at the corners, and she needed sleep.
“I’ll take you home, Junie, it’s time to close up anyway.”
Minty lay her cool hand over Junie’s arm. “You want to stay upstairs with me, Junie?”
Junie’s face creased into a semblance of a smile. “Thanks Mint, but I need to think. And sleep.”
She pushed herself up using the table to do so. “I’m just so damn tired.”
Chapter 41
Something Came Up
Willa
Friday morning, I slept late. We had closed the store for the day, giving ourselves a much-deserved day off. Barrett had left hours ago for the clinic. I stretched and came fully awake. Well! I joked wryly to myself, time for my weekly pregnancy test.
The first time I’d done a pregnancy test, it was positive, and it altered the course of my entire life.
The second time I’d done a pregnancy test, I was in my mid-twenties, and it was because the condom broke. My period was four days late when I took the test. The test was negative, and I got my period that night, but it triggered flashbacks for days.
The third time was two years ago. I was in the middle of a huge campaign and the stress was eating me alive.
I’d been in a relationship for nearly two years at that point, but we were not headed for forever. Part of me wouldn’t have minded being pregnant. Part of me thought getting pregnant by accident might be my only opportunity to have a family of my own. It wasn’t like I’d been able to attach to any of the men in my life up until that point, and I didn’t plan to ever consciously make the decision to have a child.
I didn’t trust myself to put anyone’s needs above my own. In the end it didn’t matter, the test was negative, and it was then that I learned stress will cause me to skip my period.
Nevertheless, despite having two more negative tests within the past two weeks, my anxiety couldn’t let it go and I knew it wouldn’t let it go until I got my period. That morning’s test was the third in two weeks.
At least, they no longer triggered me. I figured it was because I knew, deep down, it was just stress. Now that asshole client’s project had finally wrapped up, the shelter fundraiser was over, and Muffin had passed, it would come, but I still felt compelled to check.
I laughed at myself. I hadn’t even had one drink since the possibility of pregnancy entered my mind, fearful of inflicting any harm on a baby that wasn’t there.
I peed on the stick, set it on a piece of toilet tissue on the counter, and got into the shower. I smiled to myself. We were being decadent, closing the store and taking Friday off. I reasoned to myself that we deserved it. A trip to the mall with Junie would be good. I could buy a negligee to wear for Barrett. I had not yet discovered if he liked that kind of stuff. Usually, we were falling into bed after being out and about, and with my melons, I needed a support bra. I didn’t get to wear those filmy lacy bits up top on the daily.
I grinned to myself. He never lingered over my clothing, anyway, usually undressing me as quickly as possible. Ah, but then he lingered. I toweled off and dressed quickly. I grabbed the pee stick off the counter and tossed it in the trash.
I was two steps out the door before what I’d seen registered on my brain and my ordered, peaceful world imploded.
Barrett
