Chapter 16 #2
“I’ll grab ice and medicine.” I slide out of bed and exit the room without another word, making my way down his short staircase to his freezer, feeling as if I may need an ice pack to cool myself down.
Opening the freezer drawer, I stand over it for a minute, letting the cold wash over me before shaking my head out of its stupor.
I grab what I need and head backstairs to find Jensen with his leg elevated beneath a mountain of pillows and his face contorted in discomfort.
Striding around the corner of his bed to him, I hand him his water and the pills. “Here. Take these. I’ll rewrap your leg.”
He nods, his brows still pinched together.
Gently moving his leg off of the pillows, I unwrap the Ace bandage, rolling it back up into itself as I go so it’s ready for next time. He sets the water down and holds his leg up for me, speeding up the process. I finish taking it off so I can get a good look at his knee.
Blue and purple bruises are forming, but I’m happy to see that the swelling isn’t too bad. They are still going to need to wait for it to go down a bit for surgery, especially since the swelling can still be evolving, but hopefully, they’ll get that scheduled within the next week or so.
“Caitlin called when you were gone. MRI is tomorrow at three,” he informs me.
I start wrapping his knee back up with the right amount of pressure. Not too much to cut off any circulation or cause discomfort, but just enough to add compression to help keep the swelling down as much as possible.
“It looks pretty good. Some bruising and swelling, but I’ve certainly seen worse.”
I offer him a smile, and he mirrors me, but the grin doesn’t reach his eyes.
“I can take you if you want. I’m off today and tomorrow.” I Velcro his wrap to itself before resting the ice pack across the tender area, securing it in place with a second shorter bandage to help it stay in place.
“That’d be great.” He pauses, his lips tipping up. “You can drive my car again.”
“I already stole your keys,” I lie, smirking. “It’s basically my car now.”
“Hmm,” he hums. “We’ll see about that.”
My stomach twists suddenly, and the thought I’ve been ignoring forces itself into the forefront of my mind. Do not puke right now.
My throat burns, but thankfully, the feeling doesn’t worsen, but the heartburn is agonizing.
“I need to run to Target for a couple of things. Do you want me to pick anything up?” I ask, striding back over to the other side of the bed.
“I can get it delivered if you want,” he offers.
I chuckle darkly at the thought of pregnancy tests getting delivered to his penthouse and the worker somehow leaking that information and starting a rumor.
“No, it’s okay. I want to go to my apartment anyway.” So I don’t take a pregnancy test with you on the other side of the wall. “But I want to get you set up before I run home.”
He brushes my concern away. “Don’t stress. I have everything I need.” He pauses, a question sitting at the tip of his tongue. “Are you, uhh, coming back?”
He’s really just facing that lingering question head-on, huh? I was kind of hoping we could dance around it, like we have everything else.
“Do you want me to?” I murmur, and he cocks his head to the side, his eyelids falling to half-mast.
“Of course I do.” He sits up taller, and for a split second, I’m horribly thankful that he can’t walk over here and say that an inch from my face because I would be a goner.
“Umm, yeah. I can. I just have to run those few errands, and I wanted to organize my stuff at home quickly too.”
He studies me with a cocky look on his face. “You want to organize the suitcases you’ve been living out of for weeks all of a sudden?”
I cross my arms across my chest. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Okay.” He chuckles, folding his bulging arms across his pecs, and I’m so happy that he slept in a shirt. “I’ll be here.”
My chest aches. “I won’t be gone too long.”
He adjusts his knee before looking up at me through his lashes. “Promise?”
“Promise.” I smile at him, fighting back a playful giggle. I walk toward the door, anxiety starting to flood my system with each step as reality creeps back into my body.
Three minutes has never felt so long in my entire life. Maybe the only comparison is when I was in the hospital waiting room the night of Jensen and Carly’s accident, waiting to hear if they were okay. I spent decades in that chair and centuries pacing in the hallway.
Time is such a fickle thing. It passes the same, but can feel so differently at varying moments in one’s life. This being one of them.
The alarm sounds on my phone, and I shut it off immediately, my nerves eating me alive. The only sensation in my body is anxiety.
I don’t know what I’m going to do if I flip that test over and it says that I’m pregnant.
How am I going to deal with Cole? I know he’s going to try to take control of the situation, which is the last thing I’d want. What if I just stay here, staring at the back of the white-and-pink test without ever flipping it over?
I exhale audibly, knowing that I have to face this head-on. Slowly lifting my hand, I grab the test, close my eyes, and turn it over.
I can do this. Whatever the outcome, I can handle it.
Three … two … one.
My eyes open, and in the blink of an eye, the course of my entire life changes as I read the word pregnant on the tiny display screen.
Somehow, I knew all along that this would be the result and this was just a formality for confirmation. But knowing it factually is another depth of realization entirely.
I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant.
The words turn over and over in my mind, sounding so right yet so wrong at the same time. If only it could have happened from a no-name one-night stand and not with someone who I know will make this process a living hell.
Do I have to tell him? Would he fight me to find out the truth? Yes, probably.
But first, I need to be sure that this isn’t a faulty test. Grabbing the other four tests I peed on, I flip them over, each one revealing the same answer.
I guess that settles that.
Stepping backward on the tiles, I lean back against the open door of my bathroom, feeling the world shift around me, standing in a new place that I’ve never lived before … as a soon-to-be mom.
I rest my hand on my stomach as tears well in my eyes. I’m so conflicted because on one hand, I’ve always dreamed of being a mom, and on the other, I’m saddened by the weight of this new responsibility and the challenges it will bring.
Is that normal to feel an ounce of grief for the life I’m leaving behind, for the version that existed before today?
It’s my normal at least. But I’m still excited for the new path quickly approaching. It’s just still very fresh and new.
A tear hits my cheek … wait, not a tear, a drop of water.
What the heck?
I stare up at the ceiling. My body runs cold. “What the hell?”
The ceiling is … drooping, water staining and saturating nearly the whole thing. How in the hell have I not looked up and noticed that?!
“Oh my God!”
Something snaps inside of me, and I jump into action as the drops of water quicken faster and faster, plummeting to the tiles of my bathroom floor, quickly forming a puddle.
I step into my bedroom with my phone in my hand and immediately call the front desk, tears still welling in my eyes, my emotions more overwhelming than ever.
Hannah answers almost immediately. “Hi, Lainey. How can I help you?”
“Umm., There’s water leaking into my bathroom from the ceiling above me, and it looks like a lot of water is hanging up there.”
I watch drop after drop fall.
“Is it still leaking?” she asks, typing rapidly into her computer keyboard, the clicks sounding into the phone.
“Oh, yeah. If anything, it’s only getting worse by the minute.”
She sucks in a breath. “Oh, well, I am contacting maintenance immediately.” She pauses. “Garrett is on his way up to check it out, okay? I’ll meet you guys up there in just a minute, and we can assess the next steps.”
Shit.
My eyes flick to the pile of test wrappers and tests strewn about the bathroom counter.
“Okay, great!” I say a bit too high-pitched, rushing into my bathroom and gathering everything up. “Thanks!”
I quickly end the call and shove all of the wrappers and tests into the Target bag they came in, tie it shut, and stuff it into one of my suitcases. Oh crap. I look like a crazy person, living out of my suitcases when I moved in weeks ago.
I just cannot catch a break.
I zip them all up and roll them together into the entryway right as a knock sounds on my door.
“Maintenance.”
“Coming!” I call out, taking a few slow inhales and exhales so I don’t sound so out of breath when I open the door.
Grabbing the handle, I pull the door open with a smile on my face, finding both Garrett and Hannah. “Hi. Thanks for coming so quickly.”
Garrett walks in confidently, and I point toward the master bedroom.
“We have another guy checking out the unit above you as well.”
Hannah and I slowly follow him into the bedroom and stop outside the doorframe of the bathroom.
“Oh, that got a lot worse since I called.”
Garrett places a bucket beneath the tiny stream now falling from the ceiling. “Yeah it’s a little bit more than a drip now, I’d say.”
Hannah politely taps my shoulder. “What we are going to have you do is gather any belongings you need, and we’re going to get you put up in a hotel for the evening or a couple of days while the guys can sort everything out.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I guess my life took the saying when it rains, it pours a bit too literally.
“Umm, okay. I’m just going to make a quick call. I’ll be right back.” I dismiss myself, stepping out into the living room.
Grabbing my phone, I call Jensen, who answers on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey.” I kick my foot back and forth, grazing the ground. I groan. “So … bad news.”
He gasps, “Oh God. What happened?”
“I have to basically evacuate my apartment right now.”
“Whoa. Why? What’s going on?” he asks.
“There’s a leak or maybe a busted pipe in the ceiling above my bathroom. I don’t know yet. They offered to put me up in a hotel,” I tell him, waiting to see what he says.
“No. God, don’t do that. You can just stay here.”
“Are you sure?” I murmur, my palms sweating and stomach fluttering.
He scoffs. “Lainey, shut up. Of course I am. Now hurry up and come back home.”
Come back home …
There is something magical about those words coming out of his mouth. If only that statement were completely true and his home was my home.
Fuck, I shouldn’t think that. Just because there’s something between us doesn’t mean I’m going to move into his house, especially given the test results.
Am I crazy, feeling this way about Jensen right after getting out of a relationship with Cole?
Part of me thinks yes because I’ve barely been single for a blink of an eye.
The other part knows that Jensen and I have been connected for most of our lives.
Maybe separating from Cole was the push I needed to realize how strong my feelings still are for Jensen.
“Okay.” I swallow back the emotion lingering in my throat. “I’ll be there soon. I’m going to run a few more errands to grab … some stuff.”
“Sounds good. So much for unpacking, huh?” he teases.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shut it.” I hang up the phone, laughing.
Hannah walks out into the living room. “They’re going to shut off the water for your upstairs neighbor and you and figure out where the leak is coming from. Do you want to come downstairs and we can get a hotel set up?”
“That won’t be necessary,” I tell her. “I’m going to stay with a friend.”
She perks up, probably happy that she has to do less work, and I don’t blame her. “Okay, perfect. You’re welcome to hang out here as long as you’d like, but the water will be shut off momentarily. If anything changes, please let me know, and we can get a room for you nearby.”
Grabbing the handles of my four suitcases, I roll them toward the door, resting them against the wall beside it. “I’ll probably head out now so I’m not in anyone’s way. I just need to grab a couple things from the bathroom. Do you need anything else from me?”
She shakes her head. “I’ll call or text you if we do.”
“Thanks.” I flash her a smile before grabbing a grocery bag and heading to the bathroom, quickly throwing my bathroom stuff like shampoo, conditioner, hair brush, toothbrush, and toothpaste inside it before heading back to the front door to leave.
It’s like the second I step out of the room, reality crashes around me.
Here I am, standing in the hallway of my new apartment in New York, rolling all of my belongings toward the elevator not twenty minutes after I found out I’m pregnant with my ex’s baby, the day after my boss told me we need to have a meeting when I’m back on Tuesday.
Since there’s a holiday next week, I have Monday off which is nice but it’s also only giving me another day to overthink about everything.
Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine.
But I know that there’s no way I’m sleeping in Jensen’s bed tonight with his sexy smirk and his soft caresses. I’ll feel guilty flirting back now, knowing that I’m pregnant while he’s in the dark.
He’s flirting with a version of me I thought I was hours ago, not the new version who’s having another man’s baby.
Besides, an ounce of distance between us probably isn’t the worst thing with the craziness in our lives right now.