“Yes, sir,” I replied with a smile. “Now go and put those muscles to good use.”
The corner of Cade’s lip twitched slightly. “Love you, Gwen.”
My tummy dipped in a good way when I heard those words, which I would never tire of hearing. “Love you, Cade.”
He watched me for a second, then left.
Pretty much as soon as Cade left I felt heaps better, so I got up and showered, dressed and had a small breakfast. I was still feeling slightly queasy, so I quelled the idea of going into the store and passing along my germs to customers. Well, that and the fact that I knew Cade would be pissed if he knew I wasn’t resting.
I had gotten used to his over protective ways and sometimes even liked it, knowing it came from a good place. But there were still other times when it pissed me the hell off. I was lying on our couch in the sun, typing orders on my laptop when Amy arrived home.
“Hey, Gwennie, just come to make sure you haven’t carked it,” she called from the door, entering the room with a bottle of lemonade and a brown bag. “I also have brought supplies known to settle a stomach bug,” she declared, sitting on the couch beside me and pulling a sandwich out of the bag.
“I’m actually feeling much better now,” I told her, sitting up and placing my laptop beside the food. Which I immediately ripped into.
“That’s weird, considering Cade told me you were super sick this morning,” she mused while I took a bite. “You’re not preggers are you?” she joked, retrieving a salad out of the bag.
I froze mid chew, frantically thinking of dates in my mind while struggling to swallow. Amy noticed my reaction and turned towards me, salad forgotten, her expression disbelieving.
“You’re on the pill. You couldn’t seriously be pregnant, could you?” she questioned.
I remained frozen, and shrugged, silently freaking out.
“Okay, when was your last period?” she asked rationally.
“I don’t know,” I replied, trying to think back.
Amy sat back and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know when your last period was? Seriously you’re not the woman who doesn’t know she’s pregnant until she pops the baby out on the floor of a Walmart, are you?”
I scowled at her. “I’ve been skipping my period since I’ve been here,” I muttered, silently cursing myself for wanting uninterrupted sex with Cade. Which he had, by the way noticed, and that conversion was only slightly awkward. My stomach began to drop as I realized this was an actual possibility. The pill wasn’t a hundred percent effective and we hadn’t been using anything else.
“Holy shit, I can’t be pregnant,” I said, more to myself than Amy. I shook my head, “No, I’m not, just because I was sick one morning does not automatically mean I’m up the duff. I probably just ate something weird yesterday,” I said firmly, convincing myself.
Amy, unfortunately, was not convinced.
“How about you take a test just in case, you really want to be sure about these things.” She stood. “I’ve got a pregnancy test in the bathroom. I always keep one, you know, just in case.” She tugged me up off the couch, depositing my forgotten sandwich on the coffee table.
“I really don’t think I need a test,” I argued as she pushed me into the bathroom.
“I disagree, and it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” She turned and handed me a test.
I took it, convincing myself I didn’t need it. I moved my attention to see Amy standing in front of me expectantly.
“Oh, fine, just to get you off my back,” I declared, moving towards the toilet.
Amy settled down on a chair, not caring that I was going to pee right in front of her. I didn’t care either, we were best friends, and due to long lines in nightclubs and lack of bathroom space, we had peed in front of each other many a time.
I awkwardly took the test and laid it on the counter before I started pacing.
“I won’t be pregnant, I can’t be, right? I take the pill religiously. I have never missed a day. Nope I’m not,” I ranted to Amy while pacing, certain that I was right.
“It’s official, you’re knocked up,” Amy stated, looking at the pregnancy tests that were scattered around me on the floor of our living room, where I was currently sitting. Freaking the fuck out. I had made Amy run out and get five more tests, convinced the first one I took was wrong. It wasn’t, considering the second, third, fourth, and fifth were all positive.
“Holy shit, this so isn’t happening,” I muttered, while going through all the possible reactions Cade could have to this information, then thinking I was going to be a mother.
A mother.
I hadn’t really thought too much about kids. Yeah, I thought they were cute and all, but I didn’t have that yearning in my loins like a lot of my other girlfriends. I thought one day in the future I could be open to the idea, and lately I had been more than open to the idea after how things were going with Cade and I. But I was thinking in the future. Not now, when Cade and I had barely been together four months, when I had just opened a new business. I was twenty freaking five. I still had at least four more years of child free party life ahead of me.
“Oh my god, Ames,” I groaned looking up at her. “I’ve been drunk. Like, a lot. I don’t know how pregnant I am. Holy crap what if I have, like, totally fucked up my child just because I can’t pass up a good cocktail? I am a terrible mother and I haven’t even given birth yet,” I whined, sounding near hysterical.
Amy bent down and gave me a firm slap on the cheek. “Snap out of it,” she ordered.
I held my cheek in shock. “You just hit a pregnant woman,” I gasped, even though it didn’t actually hurt that much, it was the principle of the matter.
“No, I slapped some sense into my best friend to stop her freaking the fuck out. You are not a terrible mother, especially when you just found out you were pregnant twenty minutes ago and have not chugged down a tequila shot in that time,” she explained, kneeling beside me.
“No, I haven’t, but I could seriously use one,” I groaned thinking about the fact I would have to say goodbye to tequila for months, nine of them.
I stared at Amy seriously.
“What if I have actually hurt my baby?” I asked voice small, feeling fear for the little being growing inside of me. And feeling already attached to it.
Amy looked at me softly. “I’ll call the clinic now, get you in. But I seriously doubt a little bit of booze will harm Cade’s child, his super sperm beat birth control, it can probably handle anything,” she joked, pushing up and giving me her hand to pull me off the floor. “And my friend Trina didn’t know she was pregnant until like four months, and those four months just happened to be when we were on a bender in the South of France. Seriously, she partied hard. Kid’s fine, even a little too smart if you ask me, little fucker is better at math than me,” she told me, smirking.
I smiled weakly back at her, unable to muster much more with all the thoughts swirling in my head. What if Cade thought I did this on purpose? What if he didn’t want our child?
My heart plummeted and I placed my hands protectively over my still flat belly. No, I argued with myself, Cade would want it. On the side of the road not one month ago he declared he wanted me pregnant. Granted, he was reeling from my kidnapping and probably meant a little further on than this.