Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Chloe
“Can food poisoning last a week?” I take a seat on a bench in Central Park. “I was queasy again today.”
“You look a little green.” Gabi tugs on the end of my hair. “Maybe it is the flu. It’s prime flu season. Don’t breathe on me.”
I can’t help but laugh. “There are other symptoms with the flu. It’s not just nausea.”
“You said you almost passed out at Evan’s apartment last week.” She juts her index finger in the air. “That’s another symptom. If I were a doctor, I’d diagnose it as the flu.”
“You’re not a doctor,” I point out the obvious. “Maybe I need to go see mine.”
“I get worried.” She reaches for my hand and gives it a tight squeeze. “I always get worried when you’re feeling under the weather.”
I do too but this is not anything serious. I know my body. I’ve been in remission for years. “It’s nothing to be worried about, Gabi.”
“Promise me you’ll make an appointment with Dr. Reynolds to get checked out.”
I did miss my yearly physical so it wouldn’t hurt to have a check-up. “I’ll make the appointment as soon as we’re back at the office.”
She shoves her phone into my hand. “Do it now, Chloe. She may have an opening today.”
I scratch the back of my neck while I wait for Dr. Reynolds in her office.
When I called for an appointment, the receptionist told me that they had a cancellation at the end of the day.
I was tempted to pass on it since I felt so tired today, but I knew that Gabi would steal the phone from me and agree to the appointment herself.
I twirl a piece of my hair around my finger. I have a feeling that she’s going to tell me to eat three square meals a day and work out. I strive for the first, but the second is where I falter.
Going to the gym doesn’t fit into my schedule. I don’t have the time to devote to it right now and if she pushes, I’ll tell her that I’ll stroll around Central Park on my lunch break.
I turn in the chair I’m sitting in when I hear the door to her office click shut. The sound is innocent but it washes over me like a tidal wave of memories.
I spent too much time in doctors’ offices and hospitals when I was sick. I hated every minute of it and even though I know I have to have regular check-ups, I don’t rush to make them.
“Do I have the flu?” I ask as Dr. Sadie Reynolds rounds her desk. She’s older than I am by a few years. Her long brown hair is braided to the side and her blue eyes are trained on the tablet in her hands. “My assistant is convinced that I have the flu.”
“It’s not the flu,” she says with little emotion. “It’s not that at all.”
I wait until she’s sitting behind her desk before I ask the next obvious question. “It is something though?”
She nods silently.
My stomach clenches in disbelief. I feel fine. I may have been nauseous on a couple of occasions and I had that near fainting spell at Evan’s apartment, but none of that was serious enough to warrant the concerned look on her face.
She knows my entire medical history. She’s a general practitioner but she’s taken the time to understand all of my medical challenges to date.
“What is it?”
She closes the tablet and places it on her desk. “Chloe, I’m a firm believer in miracles.”
I feel tears in the corners of my eyes. This can’t be happening. I can’t be sick again. I have a life now and a future.
“How bad is it?” I whisper the words as I drop my head. “Just tell me how bad it is.”
“Some people will tell you that the terrible twos are the worst, but my son is inching toward being a pre-teen and the attitude can spin my head around.”
I look up and into her face. She’s smiling. Why is she smiling?
“I’m sorry about your son but I don’t understand what that has to do with me.”
She rests her hands in the center of her desk and swallows hard. “You’re pregnant, Chloe. You’re going to have a baby.”