“I’m sorry,” she says, swiping angrily at her tear-soaked cheeks. I step forward, desperate enough to provide her comfort that I have to try, but she’s having none of it.
Two more steps back and she’s put even more distance between us.
“I’ll stay in a hotel until I make arrangements to go back to Canada. And I’ll send someone to get all my stuff from your apartment. I promise, this will be the last time you have to deal with me and my problems.”
“What the fuck?” I question, and the calm of my voice is long gone. “I have no idea what brought this on, but it’s fucking irrational, and you know it. You’re not thinking clearly about this.”
“Not thinking clearly?” she retorts with wide, blazing eyes. “I’ve caused a fucking disaster with your family. Your mom, Sophie, Winnie, they’re going to be devasted when they find out that we’ve been lying to them the whole time. Trust me, I’m thinking clearly.”
“So, that’s it, then? Your mind is made up, and you’re just going to walk away from everything?” Walk away from me?
“I hope one day you’ll be able to forgive me for dragging you into this. I hope one day your family will understand that I really do care about them and I never intended to hurt them.”
I can’t fucking believe it. She’s actually saying goodbye right now.
And I fucking hate it.
“Dais—”
“I’m so sorry, Flynn,” she whispers, and without another word, she turns around and walks away. Down the street, and across at the light, I watch her retreating back until my chest feels like it’s going to explode.
Every cell inside my body wants me to follow her. To chase her down. But for some reason, I just stand there, frozen to my spot, and watch her walk away until she’s just a blip in the darkness.
Until she’s completely gone and all I can do is head home. Alone.
Daisy
I can’t stop crying.
Not when I told Flynn goodbye. Not when I walked around New York like a vagabond in the night, unsure of where to go or what to do. And definitely not when I finally gave up and checked in to the first hotel I spotted.
Luckily, the receptionist at the Holiday Inn Express paid my emotions no attention and let me book a room.
I hold the keycard in front of the door handle, and once the light beeps green, I push inside, only to snag my heel on the threshold and force my body to catapult forward. With a panicked hand to the wall, I just barely prevent myself from eating carpet.
Fantastic. Someone just snap my picture and plaster my face right above Webster’s definition of disaster.
I throw myself onto the hotel bed, shove my face into one of the pillows, and groan. I can’t be sure, but I think I fucked up. Big-time.
Oh, you definitely fucked up. You’re an idiot for walking away from him like that.
I feel like a big fat coward. Like someone who ran away from her problems and left Flynn to deal with the aftermath by himself.
Hmmm…ran away from her problems? This sounds oddly familiar…
I turn onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have just left him like that. I should’ve stayed and been there when his family finds out the truth.
It’s not too late for that…
I swipe the never-ending tears from my face and hop off the bed to where I left my purse on the floor by the door. Phone in my hand, I spot a missed call from an unfamiliar number and a voice mail.
My heart beats wildly in my chest as I tap play on the message, but when “Hi, Daisy, this is Dr. Fields” fills my ears, all my hopes pop like a balloon with a needle in it.
I don’t know what I expected. Flynn calling me from a random number? It makes no sense, but I’m not exactly the most sane person at the moment.
“I have an urgent update that I need to relay to you, so please call me back as soon as you can. This is my cell number, and I’ll be available any time, day or night.”
Urgent update? What in the hell does that mean?
I tap on the number beside her voice mail and hit the phone icon to call.
The line rings four times, and I almost hang up, but by the fifth ring, she answers.
“This is Dr. Fields.”
“Hi, it’s Daisy. You just left me a message.”
“Daisy Winslow, right?”
I swallow and shut my eyes. “Yes.”
“Well, Daisy, I want to first apologize because the lab we sent your blood to made a very big error.”
“Okay…?”
“When they entered everything into the system, they somehow mixed up your results with another patient’s results, and while all of your lab work was still normal, your HCG levels came back high.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your blood work showed that you’re pregnant.”
Time halts. Brakes squeal. The world stops spinning.
“I’m sorry…what?”
“You’re pregnant, Daisy. And estimating by your HCG levels, I’d say you were about five to six weeks when you were in my office, so you’re probably seven to eight weeks along now.”
I shake my head. “T-that can’t be.”
“I can understand this comes a shock, especially since you’re finding out two weeks later than you should have. Again, I really apologize for that.”
“But I’m on birth control. The Depo shot. I have been for years now.”
“Birth control isn’t one-hundred-percent effective, Daisy. Do you remember the last time you had your shot? Or the last time you had a period?”
My last period? Fuck, I don’t know. I’m not the organized type that keeps it all marked on a calendar. I’m more of the type that finds out she’s on her period when she’s in a bathroom stall at a restaurant and Aunt Flo decides to ruin her underwear.
And my shot? I mean, I’ve been getting it regularly, every three months, even since I moved to LA.
Yeah, well, you’re the woman who forgot to renew her work visa, so it’s highly possible you’ve messed something up here…
When I think back to the last time I had my Depo shot, I know that it was Christmastime because Dr. Lowe’s waiting area was decked out with garland and stockings and a giant tree in the corner.
Which means it was December. And it’s May, almost fucking June.
“I’m pregnant,” I whisper and lift a hand to my mouth. “Holy shit, I’m pregnant! How did I not notice that I’m pregnant? Isn’t that something that a woman should know?!” Oh my God. I’m one of those women who end up having her baby in the toilet because she’s clueless!
“Every woman’s body reacts differently to pregnancy, and while some experience a lot of symptoms in the first trimester, some women don’t. Maybe you’re one of the lucky few who doesn’t have to deal with morning sickness and constipation.” She laughs, but I sure as shit don’t feel like laughing.
I am in the midst of existential absurdity, and it feels like I’m the butt of the universe’s biggest cosmic joke. I mean, who finds out they’re pregnant with their fake husband’s baby on the same night they walk away from their fake husband, even though they don’t want to walk away from their fake husband at all because, in all actuality, they love their fake husband so much they wish he was their real husband?