AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The doctor smiled. “Or drink, you need to stop now for the remainder of your pregnancy.”
Gianna had never been much of a drinker, so that wouldn’t be a hardship. In fact, she hadn’t had any alcohol since tequila night at the cabin. That hadn’t been intentional—rather a combination of too busy and too queasy. She was grateful she’d volunteered to be the DD for Penny’s bachelorette party because that night had been wild, to say the least, and her friends had probably broken some sort of world record for the most blow job shots consumed in a single evening.
“Would you like to hear the heartbeat?” Dr. Blake asked.
Gianna nodded eagerly, barely breathing as the doctor placed an ultrasound probe on her stomach, running it around until…there it was. A steady beat.
“It’s so fast.” Gianna sniffled and quickly wiped her eyes.
Dr. Blake smiled. “Sounds nice and strong. Congratulations, Gianna.”
“Thank you,” she said, her voice breaking slightly as she was overwhelmed by emotion.
The doctor handed her a prescription and her checkout papers. “Stop by the desk and hand this to the receptionist. She’ll set up your next appointment and we’ll do an ultrasound. Give you a first look at this little love. If you’d like to bring the father…or a friend, you’re welcome to.”
Dr. Blake had been her doctor for years, so she was aware Gianna wasn’t married. And they’d started today’s conversation discussing why Gianna had missed the shot, which meant her doctor also now knew that she and Sam were history.
“An ultrasound,” she whispered. It was incredible how real that one word made this feel. There was a life inside her. And in just a few weeks, she’d be able to see her baby.
“Thank you, Dr. Blake.”
Gianna set up her next appointment, then walked to her car.
Her initial happiness became muted as the rest of the dominos fell, one by one in her mind.
What the hell do I do now?
She’d told Elio she wasn’t pregnant. What would he say when she called to say, “Oops. My bad. I’m totally knocked up.”
She tried to imagine his face, his reaction, as she dropped that bomb. She’d basically let him off the hook and his texted reply—just a simple thank you—hadn’t given her a single clue how he’d felt about it.
How would he respond when he found out he was going to be a father?
As she drove home, she practiced at least twenty different versions of the conversation, forcing herself to play out every possible ending…imagining Elio angry or upset, but also seeing his face light up with joy, with happiness.
That was the ending she prayed for.
Climbing the stairs to her apartment, she recalled his promise that they would figure this out together, that he wouldn’t leave her to do it alone. She’d taken comfort in that at the time, but that wasn’t exactly how it was going to play out…because she’d already made the first decision without him.
This was her baby, and she was keeping it.
She’d just taken off her coat and kicked off her shoes when her cell rang. Glancing at the screen, she saw Liza’s name.
What the hell was she going to tell Liza? Her best friend didn’t even know that Gianna and Elio had been trapped together in the cabin. Or that they’d had sex.
Gianna wasn’t sure why she hadn’t shared that information with the girls. It wasn’t like she hadn’t told them every detail of her relationship—and breakup—with Sam. Hell, she’d spent the better part of an hour on a three-way call with Liza and Keeley a couple weekends ago telling them about the closure she and Sam had found over pizza, how she’d said goodbye and meant it. Her friends had cheered her on, called her courageous.
She’d never kept secrets from them, but this…this she hadn’t known how to share.
She took a deep breath and answered the phone.
“Hey, chickie,” Liza said cheerfully. “Feeling better?”
“Yeah. I am.” Gianna had foolishly mentioned her stomach was still bothering her a few days earlier when Liza tried—once again—to invite her over for dinner so they could set up her profile on the dating apps.
Jesus. That wasn’t happening now.
She could just imagine her profile.
