not continuing to see each other. “Disappear and never be heard from again?”
“It’s better that way, Dana.”
“I think you’ll change your mind.” She batted her lashes. “You’ll be back at the diner.” She opened her robe and flashed him. “And you’ll be back in my bed again, too.”
He laughed. “You’re something else.”
It was wonderful to hear him laugh. “Yes, I am.”
After breakfast, he kissed her goodbye. It was a warm, sexy, dreamy kiss, and Dana was certain he wouldn’t be able to stay away. In her mind, they were meant to be lovers, for however long it lasted.
After he was gone, she sat outside by the fountain, excited about when she would see him again.
* * *
The days that passed turned into weeks, but there was no sign of Eric. Dana had been wrong. She hadn’t charmed him into coming back to the diner, let alone sleeping with her again.
But that was the least of her worries. Or maybe it was the worst of them. Today she was a nervous wreck. Today she was confiding in Candy about her missed period.
Yes, Dana was late, and she’d never been late before. She could set a computer clock by her cycles.
“You better take a test,” Candy said, as they sat in Dana’s tiny living room, gazing at each other.
Dana shook her head. There had to be another reason for her missed period. She couldn’t be pregnant. She just couldn’t be. Not her. Not the girl who was determined to have babies the good old-fashioned married way.
“But we used a condom,” she reiterated for the umpteenth time.
“Sometimes they fail.” Candy blew out a breath. “Believe me, I know.”
For a moment, Dana just stared at her. “Believe you? You know? What does that mean? Have you been pregnant before?”
Candy nodded, her past finally coming to light. “I was pregnant when I got married. That’s why my ex asked me to marry him, for the sake of the child. He was from a proper family, and he felt it was important to do the right thing.”
“What happened?”
“We were using condoms that were expired and didn’t realize it. The latex gets brittle when they’re old or improperly stored and they can have holes or tears in them that you’re not even aware of.”
“I was talking about what happened with the baby.”
The brunette glanced away. “I miscarried.”
That was what Dana assumed. “I’m so sorry.”
“I was happy about getting accidentally pregnant. But after I lost the baby, our marriage just didn’t work.”
Because her husband hadn’t loved her the way she’d loved him? Because without the baby, there was nothing keeping them tied together? To Dana, that seemed the obvious conclusion.
Candy said, “Why are we talking about me, when we should be concentrating on you taking that test?”
Dana fidgeted in her seat. Before she committed to going to the drug store, she got up to the check the expiration date on the condoms.
Sure enough, they were old. Really, really old. Her situation was beginning to mirror Candy’s.
Chance? Coincidence? Twisted fate?
Her anxiety accelerated. “If I am pregnant, Eric will never marry me.” He would probably offer child support or whatever, but he wouldn’t walk her down the aisle. “Not that I should marry him, anyway. We hardly even know each other.” She rocked forward. “But how can I raise a baby by myself after the way I was raised? After the promise I made to my family?”
Candy gently replied, “You can always terminate if that’s a better option for you.”
She touched her stomach and recalled that she’d written L-O-V-E across it on the night she and Eric had made love. “I don’t think I could do that.” But the reality of being a single parent was knocking her upside the head, too. She understood the hardships it entailed.
Candy went to the pharmacy with her, and they looked at every kit on the market, reading the backs of the boxes. Dana couldn’t decide which one to choose, so she let Candy decide for her. At this point, she couldn’t think straight.
After they returned, Dana opened the box and read the instructions. The test was a digital model and was described as ninety-nine percent accurate. Curious to know everything, she even read the clinical stuff and how pregnant women produced a hormone called hCG, which was what the test would be detecting in her urine if she was pregnant.
Leaving Candy on the couch, Dana went into the bathroom and examined the test stick. According to the pamphlet, the words Pregnant or Not Pregnant were supposed to appear in the optical reader that was encased in the stick.
Anxious, she took the test. Then she sat in the living room with Candy and waited for the results, which was supposed to take all of three minutes. Normally that would have seemed like nothing, the amount of time to listen to a song or cook a frozen pizza in the microwave. But in this case, three minutes felt like an eternity.
Finally, her time was up and she returned to the bathroom to check the display and saw “Pregnant” on the screen. Candy saw it, too. Dana wanted to sink to the floor and cry, but she forced herself to remain standing and keep her eyes dry. Still, she was trembling inside. How could she tell her mom and grandmother? How could she deal with any of this?
“Maybe it’s a false positive,” she said. “Surely that sort of thing happens.” She could hope, right? “I should probably see a doctor before I contact Eric.”
She called to make the appointment, but the soonest she could be seen was three days away.
* * *
The days dragged by, with Dana praying her period would start. She could barely concentrate at work. She even mixed up people’s orders, bringing them the wrong food.
She wasn’t faring any better at home. Mostly she just sat around, worrying and waiting, without the slightest sign of her period.
By now she doubted that the test had been a false positive, but she was still going to the doctor to be sure.
The day of her appointment, Candy drove her there, with Dana fidgeting in the passenger seat. She was glad her friend was with her. She didn’t know if she could have done this alone.
They arrived at the office and went inside. Dana signed in and they sat down and paged through outdated magazines.
Eventually Dana’s name was called and she saw the doctor. He ran a blood test, and within an hour she had the results.
Positive. She was pregnant. Unmarried and with child. The very thing she’d promised her family would never happen to her.
On the way home, Candy kept shooting Dana worried glances,
