chapter twenty nine

two weeks later...

Walking through the radio station was never a hard task. Not when I saw the place as a second home. But today, precisely today, I wandered aimlessly through the corridors, like I had never set foot in there before. Everything was foreign to me. The only thing on my mind was a conversation I had had with the last person to cross my path...and that I needed to find Marissa.

I found her coming out of the lounge, ready to go home after a long shift. She greeted me with her usual warm smile, only this time it had no effect on me whatsoever.

“What’s up?” she asked, eyeing me curiously. “Is anything wrong?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“But how? I mean, it didn’t...”

“It didn’t work,” I announced, sighing deeply. “I was just at the doctor’s, and I’m six weeks pregnant. What’s going to happen to me now?”

She pulled me into the lounge, securing the lock on the door after she went in, and sat on the couch next to me.

“We can try it again, see what we did wrong the first time.”

“No,” I replied softly. “I...I’m kind of glad it didn’t work, to be honest.”

“You are?” she asked, wide eyed. “But how can you want a child that--”

“The baby has no fault, and I would have been the biggest idiot alive had our experiment worked. I’m not blaming you for presenting me with the idea, I’m actually thanking you for it. But, seeing as how I wasn’t in my right mind that night, I’m actually quite content with the fact that...that...”

“That you’re gonna be a mom?” she finished for me, her smile finally warming my heart.

“Yeah,” I laughed, trying out the phrase in my mind, then out loud. “That I’m gonna be a mom.”

“So when do you share your news with the others?”

“Tonight,” I replied. “I was kind of hoping you could be there for moral support. You know, in case I chicken out.”

“Say no more,” Marissa grinned. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll be happy to help fix things.”

“Thanks Marissa. We’re going to have our hands full tonight.”

“How so?”

“Well, for starters, neither of my sisters know. Second, people from this station are having a get together at the house as we speak. Third, I asked Nick if he would call the guys and see who could make it.”

“Full house,” she observed. “Good thing I’m not the bearer of the news.”

“Dear, that is so comforting,” I groaned as we walked out of the lounge.

“Isn’t it?” she laughed. “Come on, let’s go out for an early dinner, my treat.”

[chapter 28 | chapter index | chapter 30]