Secret Triplets(28)

 

I said, “No, you won’t.”

 

Then I drove away.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

 

 

 

It was only once I pulled up to the hospital that I realized that had been where I was heading.

 

I parked my car in a daze and strode into the lobby in the same thoughtlessness.

 

I asked the kind-faced woman at the counter where the walk-in clinic was.

 

She swept pink-glossed nails to the left, smiled, and said, “Second floor on your left.” And I was off.

 

The clinic was nightmarishly full, nearly every seat occupied by another wan-faced somebody. At the walk-in clinic front counter, I went through the motions, got an appointment for who knew when, and slumped into the only empty seat, the scratched-armrest one at the far end of the room.

 

There, I tried to distract myself by flipping through glossy magazines and looking at celebrity couples who glowed with wealth and good humor. Everywhere I turned, however, were babies.

 

Baby shampoo, happy babies, fat celebrity babies, celebrities as babies, silly babies, baby purses, baby cats, baby, baby, BABIES.

 

Even flinging the magazine aside did no good; the waiting room itself was filled with babies. Babies crying, babies cooing, babies still inside mothers’ tummies, and even, just maybe, my own baby in my own tummy. God, how was I going to stand waiting for hours?

 

The answer came as a tormented belly groan of inspiration: eat. I leaped out of my seat and hurried past the other patients. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

 

By the time I returned to the first floor and got to the gray-carpeted, airy oasis of food, I was ravenous. I could hardly wait in line without nearly grabbing a passing pigtailed little girl’s chocolate ice cream cone.

 

When I got to the counter, I was practically speechless with the enormity of what I wanted, something like a pizza ice cream hot dog taco brownie delight. For appearance’s sake, however, I only timidly asked for pizza, going as far as to request two slices of pepperoni when asked.

 

After unsteadily making my way up onto the sky-high chairs, I dug in. The two pepperoni pizza slices were a good before-meal snack, so I soon returned to the counter to request one mint ice cream sundae. This too proved to be a good appetizer, so I returned to the counter a few minutes later to get a real meal: a hot dog and a steak taco. After a few minutes of rather contented devouring, I returned to the counter a final time for three brownies. I polished those off soon enough, the largeness of what I had just consumed finally catching up with me; I could barely get down from the stool I was perched on.

 

Once I did, however, my stomach seemed so full that it would bring me to my knees. Instead, I stumbled back to the elevator and then into the waiting room. It had cleared out a bit, enough for me to sink into a closer, comfier chair.

 

So there I slumped, regretting everything: the food and the entire past week.

 

I only realized I had fallen asleep when I was shaken awake.

 

“Miss. Excuse me, miss.”

 

Opening my eyes to a bulbous nose, I managed an “mmmf?” before I was shaken again.

 

“Miss, it’s your turn,” a low voice said, and I jumped up as if electrocuted.

 

A burly woman with a flyaway bun stared at me, and I tried a smile.

 

“Yes, I’m ready.”

 

“Okay. Right this way,” she said.

 

I followed her out of the now half-empty room, past all the other people who’d have to wait who knew how long.

 

Inside a white and clean-looking room, she instructed me to sit down.

 

“So, Miss Combs, you say you are pregnant?”

 

I shook my head.

 

“The two tests I took said I am, but they’re wrong. I can’t be.”

 

She arched one bushy brow.

 

“So you haven’t been sexually active?”

 

My face reddened as I shook my head once more. “Well, no. I mean, I have been, but it’s just… I can’t be pregnant.”

 

Her brow fell as a knowing look came into her eyes.

 

“So I just want you—a doctor—to confirm that I’m not pregnant.”

 

Another nod and she disappeared out the door.

 

She returned with an irritated-looking doctor I recognized immediately.

 

“Frank!”

 

At the sight of me, his thin-lipped scowl became an open-mouthed smile.

 

“Alex! Didn’t think I’d be running into you like this of all things.”

 

I felt myself reddening once more. Frank was an old school friend I hadn’t seen for years. I would have bet he was sure surprised to see me there, worried about being pregnant, when I had been the most driven girl at school.