by Krista Lakes
Moving slowly to avoid jarring her delicate stomach, Kat gathered her things while Renee watched.
“Be sure to put that in the big dumpster, and not the one just by the elevator,” Renee told her as Kat shouldered her computer bag to leave. “I don’t want to get sick.”
“Sure, Renee.” Kat didn’t even bother to moderate her tone. She didn’t feel good and walking wasn’t making it any better.
“You don’t have to be snippy,” Renee complained. “And send me those reports when you’re done. Just because you’re going home doesn’t mean I should be late with my stuff.”
Kat didn’t even bother answering. She was too busy focusing on getting her exhausted feet to the car.
20
Kat
Kat’s stomach turned as she kicked her feet up onto the couch and laid her head back. Her hands were clammy as she opened her laptop to once again view the project that she was supposed to be working on.
She wanted to work on it. She was so proud that the board was even looking at her Shoesy Rentables idea that it was the only thing, other than AJ, that she wanted to do.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to work on it at all, and it didn’t seem like that was going to change any time soon. Every time she tried to focus, the nausea would come back and she couldn’t seem to string two coherent thoughts together. Whatever kind of flu she had only allowed her to concentrate on one thing: keeping breakfast down.
The TV was on at a low volume. She had started a show in an attempt to distract her from how awful she felt, but it wasn’t doing her any good. She could hardly pay attention to it. She felt like death warmed over, and beyond the nausea, she was so physically exhausted that it was difficult to keep her eyes open.
There is no possible way that I’m going to get any work done today, Kat thought. Tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow.
A knocking on her front door alerted her senses, but only slightly.
Who could that be? She wondered.
The last thing in the world she wanted right then was to have to interact with someone. She closed her eyes, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. But the knocking came again, this time a little louder.
“Just come in,” she called out, though her voice was weak and raspy.
Whoever was outside didn’t hear her, because a second later they knocked again. Kat took a deep breath and slowly began to sit up, when she heard her front door open.
Normally the sound of an unknown person opening her door would have concerned her. But she didn’t even care. She was just utterly grateful that she could stay on the couch and not have to force herself to get up and answer it.
If it’s a robber, he can just take everything I own. As long as he doesn’t make me get off the couch. I think that’s a fair deal, she thought.
“Kat, are you home?” a familiar voice called out.
Kat managed a smile for the first time that morning. It was AJ. So much better than a robber, Kat thought to herself.
“I’m in the living room,” she attempted to shout back. It came out as more of a loud whisper.
AJ popped around the corner. He was wearing his black business suit with his red tie. There was worry in his eyes as he walked toward Kat, juggling a 6-pack of Gatorade, a container of soup and a beautiful bouquet of red, pink and orange flowers.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to sit up and then changing her mind. Laying down was a much better idea.
“I heard you were sick, so I wanted to come and check on you,” he explained.
Kat grinned, wishing she could get up and throw her arms around him for a hug. She was positive that no man had ever done something so sweet for her before.
“Thank you, AJ,” she said. “But you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes I did,” he said, affirmatively. “Nobody likes to be alone when they’re sick.”
AJ set everything onto the coffee table in front of Kat.
“Do you have a vase? I’ll put these in water,” he said, motioning to the flowers.
“Under the sink,” she told him.
He went to the kitchen and promptly came back with the vase full of water.
“I got you flowers that are already dead,” he told her, putting the colorful stems into the vase. “You can’t kill these ones.”
She smiled weakly. She couldn’t believe that he had remembered their conversation in the limo about her killing houseplants.
“Now to get you feeling better,” he said, cracking open one of the Gatorades. He handed it to Kat and she immediately took a swig. She hadn’t had anything to drink since the night before and needed this cottonmouth cure immediately.
After she took a big sip, she looked over to AJ. “You shouldn’t be here. What if I get you sick?”
AJ simply shrugged as he took a seat next to her on the couch. Then he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “Then I get sick. So what?”
“But what if someone puts two and two together, AJ? Your employee gets sick and then a day later, you get sick? Most of the people who work at the company are very intelligent and I don’t think it will be that tough for them to figure out that we’ve been spending time together outside of the office.”
AJ tucked Kat’s blanket underneath her legs. Then he placed a hand over her knee, leaning his body against hers. His touch made Kat feel a little better.
“Well, you’re not exactly Patient Zero here. If the other employees suspect that the only reason I got sick is because I’m sleeping with the sick, then they’d also end up coming to the conclusion that I’m sleeping with Carl the janitor, Mildred the account secretary, Joanne in administration, four members of the marketing team, the new kid in the mail-room…”
Kat cut him short. “Okay, I get it. There’s something going around.”
“Yes, exactly,” AJ said. “The only thing that you need to be worrying about is getting better. Nobody at the office is going to attempt to track the spread of this illness. No one will be able to figure out who got me sick.”
Kat playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Fine. I just hope you didn’t bring them Gatorade and soup, too.”
“Actually, I have to admit that Joanne in admin really appreciated the soup and flowers I brought her. She said it made her feel a million times better.” AJ smiled and shamefully shook his head. “Her husband, though, now that was a different story. Somehow he wasn’t quite as appreciative as she was.”
He flashed a wink at Kat and she managed to giggle at his attempt at humor. She found herself feeling better just having AJ there with her. Nothing changed in her actual physical discomfort, but his presence allowed her to relax, if only a little bit.
The sip of Gatorade that she had enjoyed just moments before began to make its rebellion against her. Her stomach turned. She feared that the grape-flavored concoction that had tasted so good going down would not taste as great coming up. So she closed her eyes and breathed slowly, focusing on keeping it in.
Smaller sips next time, she thought.
With her eyes still closed, she leaned over and brought her head to AJ’s lap, curling her legs back up onto the couch. He caressed her hair, gently pulling his fingers through it. The tension in her shoulders began to melt and it wasn’t more than a minute or so before her stomach finally settled back down. She couldn’t believe how much nicer it was having someone there to take care of her. It was making all the difference.
She relaxed into that position, letting AJ stroke her hair. Every once in a while, he would bring his fingers to her shoulders to caress her skin. She felt her eyelids getting a little heavy, but did her best to stay awake.
“So, what are we watching?” AJ asked as a bloodcurdling scream came from the television as a splatter of blood covered the screen. “It looks very soothing.”
Kat brought her attention to the TV and laughed. “It’s one of my favorite shows. It’s about these two crazy hillbilly brothers who hunt supernatural monsters. It’s better than
you’d think. I’m kind of addicted to it.”
“I don’t usually watch stuff like this, but it actually sounds kind of interesting,” he responded. More blood splashed onto the scene as some sort of monster ate an innocent victim.
“We don’t have to watch it, AJ,” Kat said. “As long as you don’t stop petting my head, you can watch whatever channel you want.”
AJ smiled as he looked down at her. “You’re the sick one, Kat. We can watch whatever you want. Besides, I wasn’t joking. It really does look interesting.”
“You sure?” she asked. The last thing she wanted was for him to leave because he didn’t like the show she was watching. To keep him here, she was willing to watch anything.
AJ just nodded in response. A moment passed, then he spoke up again. “You must not feel well, Kat.”
“Why do you say that?” Kat asked.
“You are being way too nice to me,” he responded. “You haven’t teased me about my tie or anything. And you’re letting me pick the TV show.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so miserable in my life.” Kat snuggled further into his lap. “But having you here is helping. A lot. Thank you.”
“You deserve it,” he told her.
She didn’t necessarily agree, but she didn’t say anything. He just continued rubbing her head, gently and smoothly stroking her hair and forehead. It was such a simple act, but the effect it was having on Kat was tremendous. His touch was so loving and comforting. There was absolutely nothing sexual about it. It was just sweet. It was exactly what she needed. Her eyes finally closed and before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep. Knowing that she was safe and taken care of, she could finally fully relax.
21
Kat
Kat woke up and sat up gingerly. She looked around for AJ, hoping that perhaps he was still at her apartment, but she knew he wasn’t. The house was far too quiet and there were too many eyes watching him for him to stay. Even the fact that he had come last night was incredibly risky, but she appreciated it. She suspected that the reason she felt better today was because AJ had taken such good care of her. Slowly, she put her feet on the floor and walked to the bathroom. No nausea.
She let out a small sigh of relief. She was getting better. That terrible twisting of her stomach was only temporary and she was on the mend. She could even go into work today. There was so much to do, and since she had spent the day before nursing her illness, she was behind.
With a smile on her face, she went to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Unfortunately, just opening up the bag of coffee was enough to make her stomach threaten to repeat the day before. She carefully sealed the bag and chose tea instead.
Sitting on the kitchen counter was one of the bottles of Gatorade that AJ had left her. She smiled as she opened it and took a sip. She’d bring the soup he had brought her for lunch today. Food actually sounded like a half-decent idea at the moment, so she found a saltine cracker and nibbled on it while she waited for her tea to brew.
The cracker stayed down. She figured she was as good as cured, which was a good thing. Feeling like that was not a pleasant experience. She decided she needed to be more careful about washing her hands and taking vitamins. There was no way she wanted to spend another day hugging a bowl if she could help it.
Her tea finished brewing and she took it and several more crackers to the small kitchen table. Warm sunlight filtered through her curtains, making the room sunny and bright. She closed her eyes, basking in the warmth like a cat for a moment.
Her phone chimed with a reminder. She let it sit for a moment as she enjoyed the peaceful morning. She wasn’t quite ready yet to see what the world and her phone wanted to remind her of. For the moment, she was happy and she wanted to enjoy it.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and checked her phone. The reminder was from an app she used to track her periods. It was a useful enough thing, reminding her when her next cycle was due to start and how long they lasted. Currently, there were two notifications.
The first was just a reminder that her period was due to start in one week. Kat shrugged and dismissed the notice. Maybe that was part of the reason why she had felt so many stomach cramps last night.
She frowned as she looked at the second notification.
You did not log your last period.
Kat stared at the words. She didn’t forget to log it. She never had it.
Quickly, Kat started doing the math in her head. The only man she’d been with this year was AJ. They had been so careful to use condoms every time, but she knew that condoms weren’t 100%.
Now that she thought about it, the night of the wedding they had used a condom. She remembered how raggedy it had looked, as if it had been there past the point when it was safe to use. Fun Kat had kept Boring Kat from checking it more closely.
A cold sweat broke out on her forehead that had nothing to do with being sick.
What if her sickness yesterday wasn’t the flu?
Kat quickly pulled up a search engine on her phone and found a pregnancy information page. Her eyes skimmed the articles, looking for the information she needed.
Ovulation typically occurs around week two after a period. Using her period app and counting back on her fingers, that would have been the night of the wedding.
Kat swallowed hard and kept reading.
Count the weeks from the last missed period to tell how far along in your pregnancy you are.
According to her math, it was seven weeks almost to the day since her last missed period and a little over five weeks since she had met AJ.
Morning sickness usually starts around six weeks.
Kat quickly clicked on the link for pregnancy symptoms. She prayed that none of them would match. She wanted this latest bout of vomiting to be the flu. She wasn’t ready for the alternative.
Signs of Pregnancy:
Tender breasts. Kat unconsciously touched herself and winced. She had thought it was just her new bra that was making her sore.
Nausea with or without vomiting. Check.
Increased urination. Check.
Fatigue. Double Check.
Food aversions. Check again.
Her phone made a loud click as she set it on the table. What if she was pregnant?
She wasn’t ready for this and she had a suspicion that AJ wasn’t ready either. They hadn’t even discussed the possibility of kids, or even a future beyond next week. She had really hoped to meet his parents before they had children together, or at least have introduced him to her family.
This wasn’t how she had planned her life.
A baby with AJ. Surprisingly, the idea of carrying his baby wasn’t scaring her. In fact, she rather liked the idea of it. Someday. Not today, though. She was very much smitten with him, but she wasn’t exactly ready to start a family with a man she had just met two months ago.
What would AJ think? Kat’s nausea came back. He was embroiled in the middle of a horrible scandal regarding his partner being sexually inappropriate with employees. And now, she was about to tell him that he just knocked up an employee.
The press would eat him alive for this. This was the worst thing that could happen to him in the current media climate. They had been worried about the press finding out about them dating. She could only imagine the uproar that would come from him impregnating her.
Panic crept up her throat and she was afraid she was going to puke again. She needed a plan. She needed to know that this was actually happening. She knew better than to believe everything she read on the Internet. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t pregnant and it was just the flu.
There was only one way to know for sure. She had to go take a pregnancy test.
It only took her ten seconds to find a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She tried not to think about the fact that the jeans felt tighter than usual as she tied her shoes and hurried out the door. Kat would have run to the corner gas station if she hadn’t felt so sick to her stomach. She wasn’t sure if it was the flu
, morning sickness, or just nerves.
Inside the small convenience store, she quickly located the easiest to read pregnancy test, paid cash, and hurried out the door. She was so desperate to know, she considered using the convenience store bathroom, but decided to just use her bathroom at home. Maybe it was just paranoia, but she didn’t want anyone but her knowing that she had even purchased a test.
The walk home seemed to take forever. Her future, once so certain and clear was suddenly cloudy and about to change. The weight of the world, complete with a possible new tiny human, sat squarely on her shoulders with every step home.
Once inside the safety of her own bathroom, she ripped open the box and read the instructions. It was pretty straightforward. Just pee on the stick and wait for the lines to appear.
For the first time in the past week, she was grateful for her near constant need to pee. She reread the directions one more time, just to make sure that she was going to correctly pee on a technological wonder correctly.
Then she sat down to wait as the test processed. The timer on her phone seemed to go in slow-motion.
Would the baby have AJ’s eyes or hers? Boy or girl? He or she would be born at the end of February, if she was indeed pregnant. What hospital would she deliver at? What would AJ think? Would he ask her to marry him? He’d make a great dad. What if he didn’t want to be a father?
Stop it, she told herself, shaking her head to dispel the thoughts. There’s no reason to worry until there is one.
Kat’s stomach was in knots as she waited. The timer slowly ticked down the seconds, each one longer than the last. She knew her whole world was about to change as soon as she looked at the plastic stick.
The phone timer chimed. Slowly, fingers shaking, Kat reached for the test and read it.
Two lines. Positive.
22
AJ