15. Meredith
Chapter Fifteen
MEREDITH
“Wh-what?”
“You’ll have to see an ob-gyn to see how far along you are, but I suspect this is all just morning sickness.”
Logan’s staring at the doctor as if she said I have alien blood or something, and I wonder if he’s processing all this.
My head is spinning, my heart racing.
How could this happen? I’m on birth control...wait.
I haven’t refilled it this month. Or last month.
I curse under my breath, and the doctor leaves.
Logan’s hazel eyes turn to mine, nearly completely amber with emotion.
As I sit on the stupid cot in the urgent care, he gets down on one knee.
“No.” I pull him back up. “No, no, no.”
“What are you talking about? Meredith, this is perfect. We can?—”
“It’s not yours.” The lie tastes foul in my mouth as my voice sounds flat even to my own ears.
Logan slowly stands up.
“What did you say?”
There’s a warning in his voice, but I ignore it.
“It can’t be yours. We were only together one weekend, and?—”
“And what, you’ve been with someone else more often?” His voice raises, and I shush him.
“People are sick here.”
“I thought you were sick! And it turns out you’re just pregnant? By someone else? What’s his name?” Logan’s hands tighten into fists, a muscle in his jaw ticking.
Heat pools in my lower abdomen.
I’ve always liked his possessive nature, but I can’t have him thinking this baby is his. Even if it is.
“I’ve been seeing someone for a while.”
It’s a blatant lie, but if I know Logan...
“Of course, you have.” He bites out the words.
“Logan, even if it was yours, we can’t get married. We don’t know each other like that anymore?—”
“Got it.”
And before I can say more the nurse comes in to disconnect my fluids and give me follow up information. Logan leaves, and I hurry outside to find him standing next to his car, his hair mussed as if he’s been running his hands through it.
I swallow hard and get into the car.
He gets in immediately after and speeds off.
“Logan.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone?”
“It isn’t... it wasn’t serious.”
“It damn well better be now. Does he know?”
“How would he know? I didn’t even know until today,” I shoot back, but Logan keeps his eyes trained on the road.
He’s pissed off. Of course, he is. He’s always been territorial. It doesn’t mean anything, even if it makes my heart race.
“Well, you should tell him. He is the father, after all.”
“Are you upset it isn’t you?”
He pauses at a red light, glancing over at me, and there’s something in his eyes I can’t name.
“Of course not.”
I huff out a breath and look out the window as he takes me home.
I expect him to speed away, but he walks me inside.
“Who is he?”
His voice isn’t as tight, but I’m still not giving any names, fake or otherwise.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to know.”
He scoffs. “What, you think I’m going to rough him up?”
“You would have before.”
“You’re the one who said we’re different people now.”
Are we? Are we really?
“I’m not telling you, Logan. It’s not serious, just a fling.”
“Is that what I was to you? A fling?”
“It was one weekend, Logan.”
He searches my face, his eyes intense, but in the end, he sets his jaw and leaves, speeding toward the gate before I can say anything else.
I groan.
At least I’m not feeling like I’m going to throw up every five minutes. The nausea medication helps a lot, even if it makes me feel exhausted.
I head upstairs, collapsing on top of my bed and hoping when I wake up this has all been a bad dream.
I wake to the sound of my phone ringing and squint at the screen until I make out Dina’s name.
“Hello?”
“What did you do to the boss?” she hisses into the phone. “He came back here for like thirty minutes, just paced around, and then left.”
“Why do you assume it’s me?”
“Because he left earlier to go and check on you.” She pauses. “Plus, I know your sordid history.”
Not really.
I take a breath. “Listen, I’m too sick to tell you this over the phone. Can you come over?”
“To the mansion?” Her voice peaks upward.
I snort. “Yes, where I live.”
“Can we get in the pool?”
“You can, but I’m not feeling well enough to swim.”
“Should I bring anything?”
My stomach growls. “Some burgers and fries? Extra bacon on mine, please.”
“Be there in half an hour.”
When she buzzes in at the gate, I instantly buzz her in, not waiting to hear the intercom.
I meet her on the porch, and she’s looking around in awe.
I've always gone to her apartment, not wanting my mother to know I have work friends since she doesn’t even know I have a job.
“Jesus, Mere, you look terrible, but this place is magnificent.”
“Thanks.”
She frowns. “You’re really sick.” She gestures to my hospital bracelet. “What happened?”
I walk her into the living room and plop down on the couch as she puts the fries on the coffee table. I hope I can keep some of this down.
“Logan came to check on me and insisted we go to the doctor. Where they told me I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant ?” she screeches, and I can’t help but laugh a little, my mouth full of fries.
I chew and swallow before answering. “It appears so.”
I dig into the bag and grab a burger, unwrapping it and stuffing it into my mouth, suddenly ravenous.
It’s just starting to dawn on me that I’m really going to be a mother, and I slowly rub my hand across my belly.
I don’t feel anything, not really. But I guess I wouldn’t, this early.
“And it’s Logan’s?”
I roll my eyes, chewing and swallowing before answering. “Who else?”
“Who knows? You’re full of surprises, Mere. So, he knows? Is that why he’s freaking out?”
“I told him it wasn’t his.”
“You lied ?”
“What else was I supposed to do? He tried to propose to me when he heard the news!”
“Oh, my God, that’s so romantic.”
I throw a couch pillow at her.
“It’s not romantic. He didn’t want me then, and he doesn’t want me now.”
“Has he said that?”
“Not in so many words,” I mutter, standing up. “Let's go to the pool. I don’t want to talk about Logan anymore.”
She shrugs. “Fine with me. I love being in the water.”
I don’t get in the water, though. I sit on a lounge chair while Dina jumps in, swimming laps. After a bit, she treads water and then hangs on to the end of the pool, looking up at me.
“Dina?”
She gets out of the pool, grabbing a towel to wrap around her. “I just thought we were friends.”
She huffs out a breath and sits next to me on the other lounge chair.
“Listen, Dina... it’s complicated.”
“How complicated can it be?”
I sigh heavily. “Logan is Grayson’s best friend. What do you think he’d do if he found out?”
“I don’t know, but don’t you think he’d want you to be happy?”
“You don’t know him. Besides, no one knows we were together. Before or now.”
“But now things are even different. The baby deserves to know their father. And Logan deserves to know the truth too.”
I groan.
My stomach growls.
“I know we just ate, but baby wants a sub sandwich.”
She chuckles. “What baby wants, baby gets.”
She orders us a couple of sandwiches and chips on her phone.
By the time it arrives, we’ve dried off and showered and gotten into our pajamas.
We both look ridiculous, me in my rubber duckie pajamas and weathered Winnie the Pooh slippers, and one of those leopard skin muumuus for her, but it feels like a sleepover.
We eat and Dina digs out some chocolate almond ice cream from the fridge, and we pass it around with a spoon stuck in the middle.
She looks at me. “I can’t lie; I want you to tell me everything.”
I chuckle. “I guess I kind of want to tell someone , but it’s hard. You won’t say anything to anyone at the office?”
“My lips are sealed. To everyone . It’s your decision what to do about the baby.”
“I should have hooked up with you instead.”
Dina laughs. “If only we weren’t both straight.”
“Tragic, really.” I sigh heavily.
“So, are you going to spill?”
I tilt my head back, looking at the high ceilings and chandelier above me. It’s so familiar, just as familiar as the smell of my mother’s perfume.
“Life was hard for Logan,” I start, and I spill it all. Every bit of it.
How we snuck around in high school, how he left me, how it all started again.
Dina listens, rapt, her brown eyes on me.
After I finish, crying, she comes to me, pulls me into a big hug.
She doesn’t respond, and she doesn’t need to.
She’s there for me.
And I’m so grateful to have her, especially now that I’m pregnant with Logan’s baby.