“You need to eat.”
We’d been having this argument for the past week. I’d been feeling a little off, somewhat sickly, and I was beginning to think I had brought something home with me from Greece because no matter how much Echinacea tea I drank, (and I drank a lot) I couldn’t seem to shake whatever it was that was making me feel a little under the weather.
“Calix,” I pulled in a breath to argue before I lost it. “I think I’ll be able to stomach some soup.”
The skin around his lips tightened as he pursed them. “You’ve eaten nothing more than soup for the last four days, love.”
“I know.”
“You can’t live on soup alone.”
“Oh God,” Irritation flooded my system as I dropped my kindle into my lap to rub my temples. “Please don’t do this now, Calix.”
“Do what?”
“Force an argument.” I lifted tired, hopeful eyes to his face. “I don’t have the energy.”
“I know.” He nodded. “You haven’t had the energy for much since we’ve been home.”
“I’m not feeling well.” I defended my laziness. “You know that.”
“I do.”
“I think I caught something in Greece.”
“I don’t think so.” He said matter of fact and I felt my brows draw together as I stared up at him from my comfy chair in his office. I had no idea what he was trying to say, but I was both irritated, nauseous, and exhausted. The longer he held silent the less I cared for an explanation.
Uncurling myself from the chair, I stood to move toward him. “Calix,” I rested my hands on his chest. “Take me to bed, please.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched as it did when he was tense and I knew he was frustrated. This wasn’t the first time I had dismissed a conversation with Calix by asking him to take me to bed, but it usually worked - and I was so tired. All I wanted was to curl up in his warm arms and fall into the dreamland.
Calix settled his hands on my hips, pulling me closer into him. “Do you think you should see Dr. Kendrickson?”
“No.” I shook my head, because I honestly didn’t think it was so serious. “I think I need to sleep it off like any other flu.”
“Sleep it off?” He smirked and I felt my hackles rise, but I bit down the need to react and somehow stood with my calm facade intact. “If you insist.”
“I do.” I couldn’t help but feel my belly flutter at his flippancy. It was so unlike Calix.
He tightened his hands around my waist before steering me from the office, across the hall, and into our bedroom. I was so relieved to see the bed, that I made a quick beeline for the closet, escaping Calix’s warm touch. I could hear him in the bathroom, rummaging through the cabinets as I stripped of my clothes before sliding into the cool silk of my pale pink housecoat.
I padded from the closet to find Calix standing in the bathroom with his back leaning against the countertop. He was holding something in his hand, but I didn’t know what it was. Stepping closer, I felt my eyes widen before my mind denied the truth of what I was seeing in Calix’s hand.
“Is that?” I couldn’t finish - it was simply too ridiculous. The thought - it couldn’t be.
“Yes.” Calix nodded and confirming my fears, he added. “I’d like you to take a pregnancy test, love.”
I shook my head. “There’s no need.” My tone grew snappy. “It’s a waste of time.”
“It would be peace of mind.”
“I,”
He stepped toward me, holding out the stick. “Take the test.”
I stared at him for what felt like hours before I snatched the stick from his hand and pointed it to the door. “Get out.”
“I can wait,”
“You can wait outside this washroom, Calix.” My tone must have told him my mind couldn’t be changed, because his jaw tightened and he nodded.
“Don’t lock the door.”
“Get out.”
Calix didn’t say anything as he walked from the bathroom, and neither did I. I watched from the mirror as he moved to the door, exited, and closed it. Then, I checked myself for a pulse and ran for the box that was still perched on the counter.
Now that Calix wasn’t watching me for my reaction, I was a mess. My hands were sweating and shaking so bad, I was having a hell of a time clutching tight to the little white stick with the pink capped lid.
Oh shit. This can’t be happening.
I read through the instructions once and didn’t understand a lick of it. So, I forced myself to calm down just a smidgen before looking over the instructions again. Alright, it was easy enough, I thought to myself as I gazed down at the stick. All I did was remove the little pink cap and pee on the stick. Then, I could cover it back up and stare at the little screen for three minutes as I waited for only one pink line to appear. In the very unlucky, never mind nearly impossible chance I was pregnant, two very intimidating pink lines would appear.