“So is a marriage,” Dara snapped. “If Jon won’t put the work into that, then I don’t need him for this either.”
Her mother sighed. It set Dara’s teeth on edge, but at the same time, it was a relief. It was that exasperated “I give up” sigh, and while it annoyed her, it meant the conversation was over. For now, anyway.
Hopefully, when the baby arrived, Dara’s mom would be so enamored with her first grandchild that she’d forget all about the divorce and the absent father.
In the meantime, though, this was going to be a long six months.
In her OB’s waiting room the next day, Dara thumbed through news articles on her phone. Beside her, Matt read a weathered old magazine, probably oblivious that she could barely sit still.
It was bad enough she had to pee like a racehorse.
So help me, if Dr. Walton is running late today, I will give him an internal ultrasound…
But she’d asked Matt to come along, and maybe she hadn’t thought that through, because now that they were here, every time the waiting room door opened, her butt clenched. This was a small town, and the odds of someone they knew walking in were not comforting. Just what they needed—someone texting someone else with Just saw Dara Marley with Matt Coolidge at the OB’s office!
Imagining the looks on people’s faces while that gossip spread almost made Dara giggle, but she stifled it. Partly so nobody would look at her like she’d lost her mind, and partly because she really, really, really had to pee. And the fish tank bubbling on the other side of the room wasn’t helping. At least this office didn’t have one of those Zen fountains like the reproductive clinic back in LA had had. That would’ve been torture. Though it also would’ve been a handy thing to pick up and dump over the head of that receptionist who’d—
Well, no. That wasn’t fair. She’d dump it over Jon’s head. The receptionist hadn’t been the one breaking vows.
On the other hand, there had to be some ethical issue with getting involved with dudes accompanying their wives for fertility treatment, and that woman knew Jon was her husband.
Oh well. Water under the bridge.
Water.
Damn it.
She squirmed, cursing under her breath.
Matt turned to her, eyebrows up.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Just…”
“Nervous?”
Sure, let’s go with that.
She nodded.
He started to speak, but a nurse stepped out from the back and called out, “Ms. Marley?”
And here we go.
Dara followed the nurse into the back with Matt on her heels. The nurse went through the usual routine—vitals, questions about how she’d been since her last visit—and then she took them to the back room where the ultrasound machine was set up.
“Go ahead and put this on.” She put a folded gown on the table. “The tech will be in shortly.”
“Thanks.”
After the nurse had left, Matt asked, “Do you want me to step out?”
Dara gestured dismissively. “You’ve seen me naked. Changing into a hospital gown isn’t much of a stretch. Though the ultrasound probably won’t be the most dignified thing you’ve ever witnessed.”
He shrugged. “I’ve seen you do karaoke.”
She glared at him. “Likewise, my friend.”
“Pretty sure you were worse at it than me.”
“Mmhmm.” She nodded past him. “Pretty sure you’ll change your tune if I threaten to use one of those on you.”
He turned around, and she knew the instant he saw the ultrasound probes, because he tensed. He faced her again, eyes wide. “Okay, why do they keep dildos in here?”
“That’s what they use to do the ultrasound.”
“That’s—” He glanced at them again. “I thought they used…” He gestured at the larger external probes.
“They do. But not for a few more weeks. Those go on the outside.” She nodded toward the weird-looking ones again. “And those are internal.”
“Explains why they’re shaped like dildos.”
“Could be worse.” Dara pulled off her shirt. Once she had the gown on, she got up on the table, groaning as the motion angered her bladder. “I guess I shouldn’t complain about this part. It’s going to suck a lot harder in a couple of months.”
“How often do you have to do this?”
“Often enough that I’m going to use it as a parental guilt trip for years.”
Matt laughed. He pulled up a chair beside her, and a moment later, the tech came in.
Dara had had a few of these before at the reproductive center, so she’d been through the routine. At least the tech went reasonably slowly at first, and actually made liberal use of that tube of KY that some ultrasound techs seemed to think was optional.