She didn’t necessarily agree, but she didn’t say anything. He just continued rubbing her head, gently and smoothly stroking her hair and forehead. It was such a simple act, but the effect it was having on Kat was tremendous. His touch was so loving and comforting. There was absolutely nothing sexual about it. It was just sweet. It was exactly what she needed. Her eyes finally closed and before she knew it, she had drifted off to sleep. Knowing that she was safe and taken care of, she could finally fully relax.
21
Kat
Kat woke up and sat up gingerly. She looked around for AJ, hoping that perhaps he was still at her apartment, but she knew he wasn’t. The house was far too quiet and there were too many eyes watching him for him to stay. Even the fact that he had come last night was incredibly risky, but she appreciated it. She suspected that the reason she felt better today was because AJ had taken such good care of her. Slowly, she put her feet on the floor and walked to the bathroom. No nausea.
She let out a small sigh of relief. She was getting better. That terrible twisting of her stomach was only temporary and she was on the mend. She could even go into work today. There was so much to do, and since she had spent the day before nursing her illness, she was behind.
With a smile on her face, she went to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Unfortunately, just opening up the bag of coffee was enough to make her stomach threaten to repeat the day before. She carefully sealed the bag and chose tea instead.
Sitting on the kitchen counter was one of the bottles of Gatorade that AJ had left her. She smiled as she opened it and took a sip. She’d bring the soup he had brought her for lunch today. Food actually sounded like a half-decent idea at the moment, so she found a saltine cracker and nibbled on it while she waited for her tea to brew.
The cracker stayed down. She figured she was as good as cured, which was a good thing. Feeling like that was not a pleasant experience. She decided she needed to be more careful about washing her hands and taking vitamins. There was no way she wanted to spend another day hugging a bowl if she could help it.
Her tea finished brewing and she took it and several more crackers to the small kitchen table. Warm sunlight filtered through her curtains, making the room sunny and bright. She closed her eyes, basking in the warmth like a cat for a moment.
Her phone chimed with a reminder. She let it sit for a moment as she enjoyed the peaceful morning. She wasn’t quite ready yet to see what the world and her phone wanted to remind her of. For the moment, she was happy and she wanted to enjoy it.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and checked her phone. The reminder was from an app she used to track her periods. It was a useful enough thing, reminding her when her next cycle was due to start and how long they lasted. Currently, there were two notifications.
The first was just a reminder that her period was due to start in one week. Kat shrugged and dismissed the notice. Maybe that was part of the reason why she had felt so many stomach cramps last night.
She frowned as she looked at the second notification.
You did not log your last period.
Kat stared at the words. She didn’t forget to log it. She never had it.
Quickly, Kat started doing the math in her head. The only man she’d been with this year was AJ. They had been so careful to use condoms every time, but she knew that condoms weren’t 100%.
Now that she thought about it, the night of the wedding they had used a condom. She remembered how raggedy it had looked, as if it had been there past the point when it was safe to use. Fun Kat had kept Boring Kat from checking it more closely.
A cold sweat broke out on her forehead that had nothing to do with being sick.
What if her sickness yesterday wasn’t the flu?
Kat quickly pulled up a search engine on her phone and found a pregnancy information page. Her eyes skimmed the articles, looking for the information she needed.
Ovulation typically occurs around week two after a period. Using her period app and counting back on her fingers, that would have been the night of the wedding.
Kat swallowed hard and kept reading.
Count the weeks from the last missed period to tell how far along in your pregnancy you are.
According to her math, it was seven weeks almost to the day since her last missed period and a little over five weeks since she had met AJ.
Morning sickness usually starts around six weeks.
Kat quickly clicked on the link for pregnancy symptoms. She prayed that none of them would match. She wanted this latest bout of vomiting to be the flu. She wasn’t ready for the alternative.
Signs of Pregnancy:
Tender breasts. Kat unconsciously touched herself and winced. She had thought it was just her new bra that was making her sore.
Nausea with or without vomiting. Check.