The waiting room at the clinic was depressing. Out of the six women waiting to be called in, Callie was the only one not pregnant. The woman next to her was with her husband, and the two were holding hands, whispering in each other's ears, and smiling like a couple of teenagers in love.

She felt like crap.

You’re only twenty-one, she kept repeating in her head like a mantra. She had plenty of time to start a family. Her heart, though, had other ideas. It wanted her to be the woman sitting next to her with her loving husband and a baby on the way.

Grabbing a magazine, Callie searched for something interesting to read, but every other story was about nursing or baby development and how to stay healthy while expecting. She dropped it on the table and grabbed another one.

“Heather Wilson?” the nurse repeated.

It took a moment for the name to register as hers.

“That's me.” She jumped to her feet. “I’m so sorry for keeping you waiting. How are you doing?”

The nurse smiled. “I’m great. How about you? A lot on your mind?”

You have no idea. “I’m good. I was just reading an interesting article.”

The nurse guided Callie to her station. “Please take a seat.”

“Thank you.” Cradling her purse in her lap, Callie sat down. She had five thousand dollars in there for the car she was going to buy later, and she needed to keep it close.

“I see you are here about contraceptives.”

Callie nodded.

“Do you remember the date of your last period?”

Five minutes later, she was in the doctor’s room after having been weighed, her height measured, and her blood pressure recorded. There had been an uncomfortable moment when the nurse asked about Callie’s previous doctor and her medical record. Callie had mumbled something about it being in Alabama, and the nurse had dropped the subject. Perhaps she needed to write a fake history for Heather Wilson and memorize it. It would make it easier to come up with answers on the spot.

The energetic knock on the door made her jump and hastily tuck the thin sheet around her naked lower half.

“Can I come in?” A woman’s voice.

That was a relief. On the phone, Callie had gotten only the doctor’s last name. It didn’t matter, a doctor was a doctor, but Callie preferred a female gynecologist.

“Yes.”

Dr. Stone was a tall, middle-aged woman with cropped silver hair and a no-nonsense attitude.

“Have you ever taken oral contraceptives before?”

“No.”

“You opted for the shot?”

“No. I never used any contraceptives other than condoms.”

The doctor nodded, looking over the chart the nurse had prepared.

Callie wondered what the doctor was thinking. Until she read the part about the marriage and the miscarriage in Callie’s file, she was probably assuming Callie was entering her first exclusive relationship and was ready to discard the rubber.

In a way, it had been true at the time Callie had made the appointment, but that was no longer the case. God knew when she was going to have sex again. She should wait to start the pills. It didn’t make sense to stuff her body with unnecessary hormones until she had a partner again. Which was not going to happen anytime soon.

For the foreseeable future, Callie was done with men.

“You have several options. One is a pill that you need to remember to take every day. There are two kinds of pills, and I’ll explain the differences later. The second is the shot which you need to remember to come for every eleven to twelve weeks. The third is an IUD which is an implant good for about ten years. Other than that there are patches and—”

By the time the doctor was done, Callie felt more confused than informed. There were too many options and possible side effects. Everything from weight gain to tender breasts to bleeding between periods and a long infertility period after the shot which scared her the most.

“I’m starting to think I should stick with the condoms.”

The doctor smiled indulgently. “I don’t blame you. But you need to realize that those are only possible side effects. You may not get any, or only a mild case of a few. My job is to make sure you are aware of them and the risks involved with each method. Condoms have their problems too.”

Callie knew it better than most.

“What do you recommend?”

“If you trust yourself to remember to take the pill every day, I would start with that. Out of all the options, it has the fewest side effects.”

“The pill it is, then.”

“Good choice. Keep using the condoms for the first seven days. But if you have reason to suspect your partner isn’t clean, don’t stop using them.”

Callie looked down at her hands, gathering the nerve for her next question. “How do I know that I’m clean?”

The doctor turned around from the keyboard where she’d been typing in her notes. “When was the last time you had unprotected sex?”

“Over a month ago. With my ex-husband,” she added, not wanting the doctor to think she was irresponsible. “At the time, he was the only one I ever had sex with, but I’m not certain of his fidelity.”

The doctor looked unfazed. Probably not the first time she’d heard that particular concern.

“I can perform two tests. One will give you a rapid result, the other takes longer but is more accurate.”

“Can I do both?”

“Sure.”

Callie was afraid to ask how much all of that was going to cost. Several hundred for sure. But whatever it was, her peace of mind was worth it.

Thank God, the rapid test came out negative.

The doctor gave her a free pack of pills and a prescription. “Call me if you have any concerns, or if you experience bothersome side effects. There are many other brands you can try.”

“I will. Thank you.”

The free sample saved Callie a trip to the pharmacy, which meant she could go straight to see the first car on her list.

She pulled out her phone and called the owner. “Hi, it’s Heather. I can be there in half an hour. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Callie called a taxi, which took fifteen minutes to pick her up, causing her to arrive a little late at her destination.

The owner was waiting outside when she got there, and after a short negotiation, she was the proud owner of a 2009 Chevy Aveo. The guy agreed to shave off two hundred dollars of his asking price because Callie was paying cash, which brought the cost down to thirty-five hundred dollars. Not a bad deal for a car that was in good condition and had low mileage given that it was eight years old.

Now it remained to be seen if her fake documentation would pass the test of registering the vehicle in her new name. She also needed insurance.

One thing at the time.

The important thing was that she’d taken the first step toward her independence. A new job and a new apartment were next.