Chapter 11
Lacy took a deep breath as another wave of nausea swept over her. She hated coming in to work when she was sick, but this wasn’t going away and she had too much to do. Of course, she suspected that was the problem.
All her life she always held her stress in her gut. Some people had tight shoulders, some developed pressure headaches. For Lacy, it was always her stomach. When she was too stressed with life, it always hit her right away.
Nausea, vomiting, it was never a happy time. After her night with Walid, things were good for a little bit. He took her to dinner, and always seemed happy to see her. Then after some business meeting he started growing distant. She remembered that one meeting because when she asked about it, he had become evasive with his answers. Walid was not a man to lie, so instead he simply didn’t answer.
That had been the first time she had become truly worried for him since the attack on his hotel room that one day. Her worry for his safety had haunted her all night until he called her the next day regarding some paperwork. It had been a sleepless night, and instead of being reassured by his call, his cool tone had only made her more concerned. It was the day everything changed with them.
She’d been scorned by exes before. Harsh words, irreverent treatment, cold-shoulders were all the norm. Not Walid. He was too classy for that. He was as polite as ever, and when they spoke she never felt that he didn’t like her. Not exactly. There was definitely a shut-off for him, though. She’d lost guys before, but nothing like Walid. He had touched some nerve inside of her, treated her too well to be easily forgotten.
With her head in a tailspin from their sudden and inexplicable break-up, her workload seemed to double almost overnight. Try as she would to throw herself into her work, she found it harder and harder to focus with every passing day.
Then, just like clockwork, her stomach started to bother her. All she wanted was to go home, slip into her pjs and watch TV on her comfy couch. But that wouldn’t solve anything. If she wanted to feel better, she had to tough it out and get through it.
“You okay?” Linda asked.
Lacy blinked her eyes to try and clear her vision. “Not feeling the best.”
“You’ve been sick for a little bit now, huh?”
Linda came and set down Lacy’s afternoon coffee. The smell of it struck like a chemical weapon, and Lacy clapped a hand over her face both to block the smell and to try to keep from vomiting everywhere. Unable to speak, she frantically waved a hand at the cup, as if shooing away a yapping dog. Linda, startled, jumped into action and snatched the cup away. She took it out of the office and came back in empty handed. Lacy picked up a manila folder and started fanning the air with gusto.
It took a few minutes for the coffee smell to dissipate enough for Lacy to breathe again. Linda held a hand to her chest, and the other out to Lacy.
“Are you good? Can I get you anything? Water?”
Lacy shook her head quickly and took another cleansing breath to calm her stomach. It wasn’t wanting to listen.
“I have never seen you react like that to coffee.”
“That’s because I’ve never had a reaction like that to coffee. I skipped this morning’s because I just wasn’t feeling like it.”
“For the longest time I thought your blood was made up of coffee.” Linda said. Then sitting in Lacy’s spare office chair, she gave a small laugh and jokingly said, “Maybe you’re pregnant.”
Lacy gave Linda a polite smile and a look that said all on its own “That’s not funny.” Then she stopped and thought about it. She must’ve had an expression on her face she wasn’t aware of, because Linda perked up.
“Are you serious?”
Lacy shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I don’t think so?”
“You don’t think so? So there’s a chance?”
“Stop. You’re freaking me out.”
Linda shot up from the chair. “I’m freaking you out?”
Lacy bit down on her thumbnail and frantically started trying to do math from when she’d last had sex. Three weeks. His name popped into her mind and she recalled that they hadn’t used a condom. She squeezed her eyes closed.
“Oh no,” Linda said.
“Do you know who?”
“Linda!”
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. That’s rude to ask. Of course you know.”
Lacy looked up to see Linda looking at her dubiously. “Yes, Linda, I know who the father is.”
Lacy immediately waved her hands in front of her as if she could take back those words. “Would be! Not is. I don’t know if I am.”
“What are you going to do if you are?”
“Linda, go away. You have work to do. DO it.”
Linda jumped at Lacy’s tone and ran from the room. As the long, silent seconds ticked by, Lacy’s initial panic settled. Linda’s reaction had fed into Lacy’s paranoid flames, but the truth settled in as the haze faded. Lacy smiled.
If she was pregnant, it could only be Walid’s. He was the only man she’d been with in the last year and a half. If she was to have a baby, she was glad it would be by a man that was as kind and powerful as him. That would mean the baby would have a great start in life, and she knew he’d want to be a part of their lives.
He wasn’t the kind of man to desert family. A small, hopeful voice suggested that maybe, just maybe this would even bring him back around.