6.
I buried myself in work. The stress of living was taking over, and I was barely interested in going out when the weekend finally came. I stayed in and spent time catching up on work.
Then the tabloids started filling me in about what Jake was up to while he was on the road.
He made the cover of a magazine with his latest girl; she looked just like Monica. I felt disheartened at how fast he went back to skinny white girls. That didn’t seem to take long at all.
The first away game that hit was terrible to watch. His head just wasn’t in it, and it was plainly obvious. Served him right, he deserved to lose a game after losing me. Get used to feeling loss, Jake; you’ll be more used to it when contract negotiations are up this year.
My phone rang after the game was over, it was Jake. He must have wanted to say something because he left me enough messages afterward. I didn’t care; I had no interest in talking or hearing from him at all. I deleted the messages before bothering to listen.
Then my phone went silent for a while.
Another away game dominated the television, and despite my anger at Jake having not subsided, I was still rooting for them. Jake made an impressive showing, barely getting away with a win. His head might not have really been in the game, but the team managed to shore up his lack of ability to play.
My phone started ringing again; it was Jake again. I picked up the phone this time.
“Hello,” I said.
“Did you see the game?”
“Yeah,” I sighed, “these are some rough away games.”
The phone was silent for a moment, even though I could hear the guys cheering in the background.
“I’ll be home in two weeks, can I see you?”
I was surprised he said so this soon.
“Fine,” I said, “but don’t expect me to be in a good mood.”
“That’s okay; I just wanted to talk and maybe get a drink.”
“You’re buying,” I said as I ended the call.
I could feel my mood beginning to improve.
7.
It wasn’t until Wednesday that I went to see my doctor. I’d had morning sickness for the last few days and was getting really tired of it. She walked back into the room with a cheesy smile on her face, and I started to laugh uncomfortably.
“I suppose congratulations are in order,” she said.
“Congratulations for what,” I asked.
“You’re going to be a mother.”
I almost started choking on my own saliva when she said it.
“No, really? I don’t want to be a mother,” I said.
Her smile dissipated a bit.
“Well, if you’d like, we can discuss options for terminating the pregnancy,” she said.
“I don’t want that either,” I said, shaking my head, “I don’t know what I want. Give me some time to think about this before I do anything, would you?”
She nodded and handed me some pamphlets. I stuffed them into my purse and just walked out.
I was pregnant, and here I thought I was doing so well with birth control. I contemplated calling Jake right away, but then I didn’t. I had a feeling that he had little to no interest in starting a family, especially considering his situation with Monica.
I stayed silent for the next couple of weeks. We still talked a few times, and it seemed that he was interested in rekindling our romance. I was interested in doing so as well; it had been long enough without him.
I was the first person he called when the team plane landed at the airport. He wanted to see me right away. So I decided to indulge him.
I went to the bathroom at work again, being careful to lock it behind me. I stripped off my top and leaned towards the mirror, giving my best ‘fuck-me’ face, and sent the photo.
Before I started putting my top back on, I heard the stall behind me click open, and I froze. Monica, of all people, was in the bathroom with me. I reached down and grabbed my top as she started washing her hands.
“Don’t feel so embarrassed, we’ve all done it at some point,” she said.
“What brings you to the agency, I didn’t think you were a client,” I said.
She pulled a lipstick out of her handbag and began to draw a line over her lip.
“I’m not, but my soon to be husband is. He’s talking to Martin right now.”
“Ah, that makes a lot more sense now.”
“So, who’s the man on the receiving end of that photo? He must be pretty eager if you’re sending him something like that.”
I held back a laugh as I thought about the coincidence.
“I don’t think I can say, Agent client confidentiality and all,” I said with a smile and a wink.
With the worst timing possible, my phone started to vibrate. Jake’s photo popped up on the screen in full view of my current company.