She was two days into week six.
Jeez.
It took a while until Lauren was ready to venture out of the bathroom. After she was sure the awful moment had passed, she washed up again and used one of the disposable mouthwash packets provided in the fancy medicine cabinet.
She looked herself over in the little mirror. She was a little pale, and her eyes were red from watering, but otherwise she looked no worse for wear. Nevertheless, she felt exposed, as if she wore a label on the lapel of her suit jacket reading: pregnant and freaked out.
Feeling paranoid, Lauren opened the bathroom door just a crack, hoping to find her dinner companions distracted by their work or a movie.
They were distracted all right-Nate held Becca's face in two hands, and he was whispering softly to her. Lauren held her breath, wondering if he would kiss her. But after a moment, he sat back.
Lauren eased the door shut, counted to thirty and then banged it open before emerging. Wearing her best poker face, she moved slowly back toward the table.
Nate and Becca were sitting side by side, ignoring each other again.
Of course they were.
All their entrees had been cleared away already, praise the Lord, except Lauren's roll and butter were waiting. Without a word, Lauren sat down and tore the roll in half. Her stomach felt as empty as the Grand Canyon during a drought. And although she had zero experience with morning sickness, she knew without a doubt that bread would steady her.
Hmm. The pregnancy book had annoyed her with the number of times it had said, listen to your body. But her body demanded bread, and it wanted it right this second.
"Are you okay?" Nate asked when it became clear that she wasn't going to volunteer any information about her violent disappearance.
"Yep." She took another bite of the roll, and no bread had ever tasted so good.
"Is there a bug going around?"
She lifted her eyes to his and found worry. Nate was quite fastidious. During flu season he always asked her to distribute bottles of Purell all around the office, and he used it liberally. He was probably thirty seconds away from breaking out a hazmat suit and scrubbing his hands. "I'm fine," Lauren said quietly. "You're not going to catch a bug."
He did not look convinced.
Lauren ate the rest of her roll in about two seconds flat. The waitress came back to ask if she'd like the gazpacho that she hadn't gotten around to serving her before.
"No, thank you," Lauren said, uncertain about eating something so savory. "But if you wouldn't mind, I'd love another roll."
"And, miss?" Becca added before the young woman turned to go. "Do you have any saltines in their packages?"
"Of course. I'll bring some."
Lauren leaned back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She felt much better now, but she didn't trust it. When would the nausea strike again?
Another roll was delivered, and the flight attendant put a small pile of saltines in front of Becca. "Can I bring anyone a drink?" she inquired. "Mr. Kattenberger, we have several single-malt Scotches on board this evening."
He shook his head. "Just a Diet Coke, please."
"I'll have one, too," Lauren said suddenly. The bubbles were just what she needed.
Nate leaned forward in his seat. "Excuse me?"
"What?"
"You never drink Diet Coke. You called it vile, and made of chemicals."
"I ordered it to amuse you," she said, closing her eyes again. At this rate, her little secret would last two more days, tops. Nate was very observant, even if he did not have a clue what the early stages of pregnancy looked like.
When her diet soda arrived, Lauren took a deep pull. The flavor wasn't to her liking, but the effervescence was nice. She ate the other roll slowly, and continued to feel better. "Should we finish up our work?" she asked her boss.
He frowned at her. "You should probably go sit in a reclining chair and try to sleep. How else are you going to kick that bug?"
Lauren shook her head. "You seriously can't stand the thought of passing a file folder back and forth, right? You think I'm toxic. Be honest."
"No. It's . . . we just don't need to finish it right now."
Becca tried and failed to hide a smile.
"Nate, I'm not sick, okay?" She might as well just spill her secrets now, in relative privacy. "This is a bug you can never catch."
He squinted at her, confused.
"Omigod," Becca laughed. "It's good to know he's thick about a few things." She pushed the little pile of saltines toward Lauren. "These are for you. Keep them in your bag for emergencies."
"Really?" Lauren picked up one of the cracker packets and held it. That did make sense. Prepackaged insta-carbs. "Thank you."
"No problem," Becca said with a smile. "My sister went through bushels of crackers when she . . ." Becca cleared her throat.
Nate was silent for another split second. But then, because he really was one of the smartest men on the planet, he made a noise of surprise and bumped his head back against the head rest. "Oh, Jesus." Then he laughed.
"That's Nate-speak for congratulations," Becca said. "I'm pretty sure."
"Sorry," Nate chuckled. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Lauren didn't know what else to say. "It's really early, and I didn't plan to mention it yet. But if I'm going to puke frequently I guess you're going to wonder why."
"I hope you don't," Becca said. "That sounds miserable. I'm never getting pregnant."
Nate turned to her sharply. "Never?"
"Nope!" she said cheerfully.
"Seriously?" Nate regarded Becca with the familiar, undisguised intensity that he saved only for her. Lauren shoved another bite of roll in her mouth and wondered how many episodes of the Nate and Becca show she'd missed.
"Well," Becca hedged. "Not soon, anyway. I'm waiting until science solves the problem of morning sickness, and then I'll give it a whirl." She gave Nate a potent smile.
Lauren closed her eyes, realizing that she might be the third wheel tonight. Maybe if she hadn't hitched a ride to Dallas, they'd be joining the mile high club right now.
"Should we finish the briefing then?" Nate asked eventually, his long fingers fiddling with a silver pen.
"Sure," Lauren agreed. She passed him the folder they'd put aside before dinner.
He took it, but then hesitated. "I guess the California job is probably not going to be the right fit for you, is it?"
She winced. "It's not the best idea, no."
His smile was warm. Warm for Nate, anyway. "Forget it. I'll find you something in New York. We'll talk about it when the play-offs are over. Can you still go to China at the end of the month?"
"Of course. And I'll try not to puke at every meal."
"Hmm. So I guess the exotic cuisine tour I'd been scoping out is off the table? Maybe now isn't the best time to try dog, or pickled eel?"
"Nate!" Her stomach quivered.
"Sorry." He gave her an evil grin over the file folder, and she rolled her eyes.
• • •
Lauren arrived in Dallas without tossing her cookies again. A hired car took them directly to the athletes' entrance to the stadium, where Becca's chirpy intern greeted them with passes to a corporate box. "Y'all didn't tell me Lauren was coming, but luckily I read the flight manifest to double-check the times and I found her name! I was able to print a pass in time," the girl rambled.
"Thank you," Lauren said. "I'm crashing everyone's party today." Becca gave her an odd look, and Lauren cackled inwardly.
"Shall we go up?" Nate asked, pointing toward a set of escalators.
"Sure," Lauren agreed, hefting her overnight bag onto her shoulder.
Nate removed it immediately, settling it onto his own shoulder.
"Hey!" Lauren squawked. "I can carry that."
"Nope." He put his free arm around her. "Not this time."
"I'm not fragile."
"Didn't say you were." They walked a few paces together. "I'm happy for you, Lauren. Congratulations on your graduation, too."
"Thank you!"
"Exciting stuff, lady. All of it." As they stepped onto the escalator, he pulled her a little closer, so they'd both fit. And then he startled her by giving her a peck on the cheek before releasing her. But not before the sound of a rapid-fire camera shutter sounded on the mezzanine above her.
"You just got your picture taken kissing me," Lauren pointed out. "That will probably show up in a gossip column tomorrow."