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She rubbed her temples and took a few deep breaths, trying to slow her heart rate. Thelma brushed against her leg and whimpered.
“It’s okay, girl.”
Everything would be fine. First, she needed to know for sure whether she was pregnant. That meant taking a test. She didn’t own any, and she had no intention of purchasing one from the minimart. She could only imagine what might happen if she showed up there and bought a pregnancy test. Word would spread around town in minutes. She’d have to go to the pharmacy in Te Awa Tui, the next town over. But was she up to driving that far? She felt like crap.
Was there even an alternative? She supposed she could ask Faith or Charity to buy one, but she couldn’t handle their curiosity yet. She’d just have to do it herself.
She stumbled out of the house, only realizing she was still dressed in a robe when she was halfway to the car. With a muttered oath, she hurried back and changed into jeans and a sweater and grabbed her purse. She put the dogs outside and drove to Te Awa Tui in a stupor, a thousand thoughts buzzing through her mind but none of them settling for long enough to examine them. Once there, she parked on the roadside by the pharmacy and glanced around to make sure nobody was paying her any attention before she entered. No one was, of course. That would be crazy.
“You’re paranoid,” she muttered under her breath. Or maybe she wasn’t, because two steps inside the pharmacy, she nearly bowled into Betty.
“Gabrielle!” Betty lit up at the sight of her. “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Gabby silently cursed her bad luck. “I didn’t think I’d see you either.”
She should have anticipated running into one of the older generation from Haven Bay though. There was no local pharmacy, so they all used the one in Te Awa Tui.
Betty frowned. “Are you okay? You look very pale.”
Gabby latched onto the opportunity to divert attention away from her real reason for being there. “I’ve got a tummy bug. Need to pick up some medication.”
“Oh, dear. That’s no good.” Betty backed up a step, probably worried Gabby might be contagious. “You’d better get onto that then. Nasty things, those stomach viruses.”
“Have a nice day.”
Gabby waved until Betty had left, then breathed a sigh of relief. She beelined for the pregnancy tests, snatched one of each brand off the shelf, and paid for them before anyone else she recognized could turn up. On the journey home, the paper bag drew her eye over and over again. When she arrived, she went straight to the bathroom and used one test after another.
They were all positive.
* * *
Logan was perchedat a table near the bar in The Den, checking the bookings for his afternoon surfing class, when Betty and her friends Mavis and Nell claimed the table behind him and started chatting while they waited for Corinne, his mother, to take their order. Logan was officially off the clock, which meant that Corinne was playing waitress and bartender. They kept a small staff. Just the two of them, a cook, and a couple of casuals they called in for busier evenings, mostly during the height of summer.
“Guess who I saw at the pharmacy in Te Awa Tui this morning,” Betty was saying.
“Well go on, tell us,” Mavis said, never one for mincing words.
Betty gave her a reproachful look. “Gabrielle Walker. And let me tell you, she looked dreadful.” She pursed her lips, visibly worried. “I don’t say it lightly, but whatever she’s got, we’d better hope it’s not catching. The poor thing was absolutely miserable.”
Logan felt a pang of guilt. He should have checked on Gabby a week ago after Shane said that she’d not been her usual self. Instead, he’d opted not to, just to avoid the discomfort of talking to her for the first time since their night together. He needed to do better.Bebetter.
“Did she say what it was?” Nell asked, her voice full of concern. Such a sweet lady.
“Just some kind of tummy bug,” Betty said. “But I got the feeling she wasn’t telling me the full story.”
Mavis snorted. “You’re probably reading too much into it. You do love drama, Bets.”
Betty narrowed her eyes. “I’m telling you, something is off with that girl.”
Logan wondered how much weight to give to her words. Mavis wasn’t entirely wrong. Betty did thrive on drama. But she also wouldn’t make such a fuss if she didn’t think there was a reason to.
He grabbed his phone from the tabletop and found Gabby’s new number, which he’d got from Shane’s contact list while he wasn’t paying attention, and fired off a quick message.
Unknown:This is Logan. I heard you’re sick. Can I visit, or are you going to give me the plague?
He put the phone down and tried to refocus on his emails, but the instant it pinged with a reply, he checked to see what she’d said.
Gabby:Thanks for checking in, but there’s no need for you to come over.
