Not Another Bad Date (21 page)

“No.” Sherilyn waddled, hunched over with one hand low on her abdomen, into the kitchen. “The pregnancy test.”

“Sheesh. Be quiet. I don’t want Kendra to hear you.”

“William came by and picked her up.” She carefully sat down on a barstool. “Did you get it?”

“Yes, but I only got it to shut you up.” She still wasn’t worried. “I have an IUD. He used a condom.” It had broken once, but what were the chances?

Sherilyn reached into the sack and pulled out the box. She ripped it open and read the instructions. “Hold it in your urine stream for five seconds.” She handed Adele the plastic stick. “It says not to put it up your vagina.”

“Gee. And I was all set to.”

Adele took the stick, went into the bathroom, and came back out a few minutes later. She set the stick on a napkin on the counter across the kitchen and got Sherilyn a glass of water.

“Did you wash your hands?” Sherilyn asked as she eagle-eyed the stick.

“Yes, Mom,” Adele answered as she made toast.

“Eat this and take these,” she said, and handed Sherilyn the toast and medication. She held the stick behind her back for the full two minutes, pulled it in front of her, and stared at a plus sign.

“What does it say?” Sherilyn asked around a bite of toast.

Adele grabbed the instructions and read them. “This one is obviously defective. He wore a condom.”

“Every time?”

“It broke once.”

“Once is all it takes.”

The blood rushed from Adele’s head, and she grabbed her coat and her purse.

“Where are you going?”

“To get another test.” Forty-five minutes later, five more e.p.t sticks were lined up on the table. All of them had positive plus signs in the round windows. Adele’s fingers and toes felt numb, and she felt sicker then she had in days. Her face was hot, and she sat down next to Sherilyn so she wouldn’t pass out and fall on the floor. She still couldn’t believe the results. There had to be a mistake.

Sherilyn waved a hand in front of Adele’s face. “Are you in there.”

“What?” Her voice sounded weak and like it was coming from a long, dark tunnel.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you’re seeing anyone?”

“Because I don’t know how serious it is.”

“It just got real serious.”

“You’re not helping.” She covered her cheeks with her hands. “This is a nightmare. I cannot be pregnant.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know! I just found out.”

“You have to tell him.”

“Maybe I’m not pregnant.”

Sherilyn pointed to the tests. “You flunked six tests.”

“Maybe that was a bad batch,” she said desperately. “It could happen.”

“No, it couldn’t.”

Her mind raced and tumbled and thoughts slammed into each other. “Maybe Zach won’t notice.” She didn’t have to wonder how Zach would react. She remembered the night of the broken condom and she knew.

Her sister looked at her like Kendra did sometimes. Like just the sound of Adele’s voice was painfully robbing her of IQ points. “He’ll notice. You have to tell him.”

“He won’t be back until Wednesday. I have until then to figure out what I’m going to do.”

Sherilyn reached for her hand and squeezed her cold fingers. “How do you feel about him?”

“Zach?” She shook her head like she didn’t know, but she did. “I love Zach,” she whispered, saying it out loud for the first time. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with him, but I did. I could feel it happening, and I knew I should stop it. But I couldn’t.”

“Maybe everything will work out.”

“No.” Tears stung the backs of her eyes. “It won’t. He doesn’t love me.” And he definitely didn’t want a child with her. She shook her head again as tears slipped down her cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. Whatever feelings he did have for her were not going to change.

She wiped her cheeks and her hands fell to the table as a thought popped into her head. Good Lord, was this part of the curse? A bad date that ended in pregnancy? And how crazy was she for thinking it?

Sherilyn stood and patted Adele’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of you like you took care of me.” She took a deep breath and her eyes rounded. “Wow, that pain pill just kicked in, and I’m feeling funky.”

“I’m sorry.” He started to leave, looked up at the house number, then turned back. “Is Adele around?”

“She ran Kendra to the hospital to meet up with her father. You must be Zach.”

“Ah, yeah.” He looked into the woman’s tired face and turquoise eyes. “And you must be Sherilyn.”

She swung the door wider and he followed her inside. “Adele will be back in a bit.”

“And you must have had your baby.”

She shut the door behind him. “Yes.”

“Congratulations. How is he?”

“He’s still in the hospital, but he’s going to be just fine. Thank you for putting his furniture together.”

“You’re welcome.” He followed behind her as she shuffled into the living room. “Can I get you anything?” he asked. Coffee. Tea. A wheelchair?

“No.” She sat slowly on the couch. “How well do you know my sister?”

Zach paused in the act of lowering himself onto a chair. “We met at UT and then again a few months ago.” He sat and looked at the clock on the wall. “When do you expect Adele? I’m sure you need your rest, and I’d hate to keep you from it.”

Her gaze narrowed and she waved away his concern. “What are your feelings for her?”

He hadn’t felt so scrutinized since he’d thrown five interceptions against the Bears back in ’01. “Adele’s great.”

“Yes I know. What are your feelings for her?”

He hadn’t been grilled about a girl since he’d been…Well, he’d never been grilled. “Maybe I should come back later.”

The door to the garage opened, and Sherilyn settled against the cushions. “I hear her now.”

Less then a minute passed, but it felt like five. The door to the garage opened and closed and Adele called out from the kitchen. “I’m back. William was at the hospital, and the tool was wearing a toupee.”

“I’m in here.”

It had been over a week since Zach had heard Adele’s voice in person, and the sound of it rushed over his skin. He’d tried to call a few times, but he’d never reached her.

“I stopped at Starbucks and got us some tea. I think the tea will help with the…” She stopped when she saw him and her eyes widened. She wore a big bulky sweater, jeans and held two cups in her hands.

“Hey there,” he said as he stood.

“I didn’t expect you until Wednesday.”

He shrugged. “I got bored.”
I missed you.
If Adele’s sister hadn’t been sitting on the couch staring at him as if he were a criminal, he would have put his hands on the sides of Adele’s face and kissed her until she took his hand and led him to the bedroom. Or spa tub. Or shower. Or floor. Which brought up a dilemma. He wouldn’t mind taking Adele to his house and making love to her in his bed, but Tiffany was there.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Sherilyn scooted to the edge of the couch, and Zach crossed the room to help her stand. “Thank you,” she said, and shuffled over to Adele. She grabbed one paper cup of tea and took a sip. “Tell him.”

“Shh.” Adele glanced at Zach, then returned her attention to her sister. “We’re not even sure.”

“Dele, don’t be stupid. We’re sure.”

She gave her sister a very hard look, then pasted a phony smile on her face. “Go to bed.”

Sherilyn glanced over her shoulder. “It was nice to meet you, Zach.”

“My pleasure.” He stared at Sherilyn’s back until she disappeared. There was something going on between the sisters, but first things first. He moved toward her and placed his hands on Adele’s cheeks. He lowered his face to hers and brushed his lips across her mouth and waited for her to open up for him. She remained stiff and unmoving, just as she had a few months ago when she’d thought they shouldn’t get involved with each other. He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “What’s going on?” He had a feeling he knew. Ever since he’d seen Adele again, she’d talked about leaving after her sister had the baby. He’d known she would leave, he just hadn’t anticipated that it would be so soon nor that the thought would leave him so cold.

“Oh…” She shrugged a shoulder, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

He slid his hands to her shoulders. “What is it?” He wouldn’t mind if she decided to move to Cedar Creek. He liked having sex on a regular basis. He liked his life with her in it.

She opened her eyes and blurted on an exhaled breath, “I have something to tell you.”

His grasp tightened, and he steeled himself against the news that she was leaving. He wondered what she would do if he asked her to stay?

“I think I might be pregnant. Maybe.”

He dropped his hands and looked into her pale face. He felt the blood drain from his head and his stomach drop. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

The floor beneath his feet shifted, opened, and the bottom fell out of his life. “How can you be sure?”

Adele took a drink of her chai tea. The liquid warmed her throat and upset stomach. She gazed up at Zach’s brown eyes and the furrow creasing his forehead. “I took six pregnancy tests, and they all came back positive.” She loved him with every beat of her heart. She loved the way his blond hair touched his forehead and the curve of his lips when he smiled. She loved the way he made her laugh and the way he looked at her when they were alone together. But he wasn’t looking at her that way now, and she wanted so badly for him to take her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay, even if it wasn’t true. “I’m pregnant.”

Instead he stepped back as if she was suddenly radioactive. “Goddamn it.” He scrubbed his face with his hands, then pressed his fingers into his forehead. “Fuck. How in the hell did this happen?”

Adele’s heart sank, but she wasn’t surprised. She moved past him and sat on the couch. She was tired and sick, and she just wanted to go to sleep and wake up and have this all be a bad dream. “I don’t know. It wasn’t supposed to happen.”

He dropped his hands and turned to face her. “You said you had one of those IUDs.”

“I do. Or did. Or, I don’t know.” She took a sip of tea. “Your condom broke just that one time. Just once. I don’t understand. I can’t believe this is happening. I’m as shocked as you are.” She glanced over at him and her heart sank even more. He was looking at her as he had the night the condom broke. With suspicion and distrust. “Don’t say it, Zach,” she warned.

But he went right ahead and said it anyway, “I don’t think you’re as shocked as I am. Obviously you don’t have an IUD.”

She wanted to cut him some slack for shock, but she wasn’t feeling generous. She was still in shock herself, but she wasn’t blaming
him.
“You think I planned this?”

He folded his arms across the chest of his flannel shirt and didn’t say a thing. He didn’t have to.

“I didn’t lie about the IUD, and don’t you dare suggest I did anything to the condom. I just didn’t know you have turbo swimmers that can take out birth control.”

“You knew this was the only way that I would ever get married again.”

She set her tea on the table and stood. She loved him, and his words sliced at her heart. “Who said anything about getting married?”

“Isn’t that what this is all about?” He raised his chin and looked down at her. “I knock you up, and we get married?”

“No.”

“Let me make this really clear. I’m not asking this time.”

Her wounded heart could only take so much. “Leave.” She pointed toward the front door. She was tired and sick and not in the mood to put up with Zach’s anger. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow,” she said, her lips stiff with her own anger. “I’ll call you once it’s confirmed.”

He reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out his keys. “What time tomorrow?”

She’d called Sherilyn’s OBGYN, who’d had a cancellation and had been able to get her in. “Ten thirty. I’ll call around noon.”

“I’ll take you.”

“I can drive.”

“I said, I’ll take you.”

“Fine.” But it wouldn’t change anything. They’d find out she was pregnant, but Zach still wouldn’t love her. She’d still be alone and scared and wondering what the hell she was going to do.