803 Wishing Lane by Shaw Hart

Seventeen

Caroline

“So,I think it must be what Charlotte had last week. I’ve been nauseous and tired,” I tell Dr. Coleman and he nods, writing something down in my chart.

“Let’s check you out.”

I shift on the exam table, the thin paper crinkling under my legs.

“Any fever in the last few days?”

“No,” I admit and he frowns.

“Hmm.”

He checks my temperature, blood pressure, looks in my eyes and ears and feels my lymph nodes.

“Are you feeling nauseous right now?” he asks.

“No, it’s more in the afternoons,” I admit.

He writes something else down and then takes a seat next to the table.

“Any other symptoms?”

“Just feel kind of emotional and tired.”

“Okay.”

I watch him as he writes down something else.

“Well, without the fever and the all-day nauseousness, it doesn’t sound like it’s the bug that’s going around that Charlotte had.”

“Okay,” I say, starting to get a little nervous.

“Are you under a lot of stress?”

My mind flashes to how awful this last week has been. Between getting Charlotte back to feeling one hundred percent and nursing my own broken heart, I haven’t been eating or sleeping as much as I should.

I thought maybe that’s what this was initially, but now that I’ve started throwing up, I just wanted to see Dr. Coleman to make sure.

“I guess a little. I wasn’t eating or sleeping great while I was caring for Charlotte.”

He nods, thinking something over.

“I uh, I heard about you and Heath.”

My stomach cramps and I squirm slightly. The paper crinkles, the only sound in the room.

“Yeah…”

“Do you think maybe that could be causing some of the symptoms?” he asks gently and I shrug.

“Does that actually make people sick?” I ask.

“Sure, the stress and emotional distress from a breakup can cause problems or health concerns.”

I bite my bottom lip, mulling that over. I have been pretty upset about the break up and between that and Charlotte being sick, I haven’t been taking care of myself.

“There’s one other possibility,” Dr. Coleman says and I nod. “You could be pregnant.”

My stomach drops and I try to think back to when my last period was.

I can’t believe I never even thought about using protection with Heath. Or that he never brought it up, either. Wasn’t he worried about this happening?

“Do you remember when your last menstrual cycle was?”

“Um,” I try to think back to the date but draw a blank.

“Well, let’s do a pregnancy test just to be safe. If it comes back as negative then we can try to run some more tests.”

I nod, my hands clammy as I twist my fingers together in my lap.

I follow Dr. Coleman up front and he hands me a cup and points me toward the bathroom with a gentle smile.

My hands shake as I do the test and I leave it in the designated spot.

“I’ll call you later today with the results,” Dr. Coleman says and I nod as I grab my purse and head outside to my car.

It’s almost time for me to go pick up Charlotte, so I head toward her preschool, my mind in a daze as I think about the possibility of being pregnant.

I’m going to have to tell Heath.

I park and smile when I see Charlotte playing outside on the playground. She spots me and waves, running over to the fence, so I climb out and head over to meet her.

“Hey, bunny!” I greet her and she grins at me.

“Are we going to the diner?” she asks excitedly and I smile.

Her appetite has come back and she’s been devouring the vegetable soup and grilled cheese that David makes for her.

“Sure. Let me just check you out.”

She nods and runs back to her friends and I head inside to tell Janet that I’m picking Charlotte up.

“See you on Monday!” she says and I smile and wave.

I load Charlotte into her car seat and she tells me all about her day as we make the short drive over to the Virgin Street Diner.

“Can we go camping this weekend? We haven’t seen Heath in so long,” she says, drawing out the so long.

I haven’t told her yet that we broke up, and I don’t want to think about why. At first I told myself it was just because she was sick and I didn’t want to cause her more stress, but then she got better and I still didn’t tell her.

Part of me knows it’s because I don’t really want it to be over.

“Um, maybe,” I stall and she huffs out a sigh.

“I miss him,” she says quietly and I nod, my eyes starting to water.

“Me too,” I admit.

We head inside and I get Charlotte settled in a booth and go to grab her a chocolate milk and place her order.

My eyes stray to the front windows and I look across the street to the Cherry Falls Trading Post. I can see Heath behind the counter and he looks up, meeting my eyes for a brief second.

That’s it. That one look and I know I can’t go on like this.

He looks as miserable as I feel and I can’t take it. I can’t stand not seeing him for another second.

“Hey, Gracie?” I ask as she eats her food at the counter.

“Yeah?”

“Can you watch Charlotte for just a second?”

“Sure!” she says, grabbing her drink and plate and heading over to the booth.

I watch them sit together for a minute before I take a deep breath and head for the front door. I make it across the street and open the door, almost running into Heath as I walk inside.

“Hey,” I say as he reaches out and steadies me.

“Hey,” he says, eyeing me hopefully.

“I’m so sorry,” I choke out and the next thing I know, Heath’s lips are on mine.

He kisses me hard, our hands clinging to each other’s clothes as we try to get as close as possible to each other. He pulls away just as abruptly as he started the kiss and I’m left feeling off balance.

“Thank fuck. I was losing my mind without you,” he breathes as he rests his forehead against mine.

“Me too,” I admit. “I’m sorry that I panicked and pushed you away. I need you. I love you, too. So much.”

He kisses me again, his tongue slipping into my open mouth and I tug on the short strands of his hair, loving how he makes me feel, how perfect we are together.

“I love you,” he says as his lips land back on mine.

“Uh huh,” I mumble, kissing him back.

“I missed you so much.”

“I have something else that I should tell you,” I say as we come up for air.

“What’s that?” he asks, tugging me closer to his body.

“I went to see Dr. Coleman today because I wasn’t feeling well the last few days, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t have what Charlotte had.”

Heath’s brow wrinkles and I can see the worry in his eyes. His hands tighten on my waist, like holding me closer is going to cure me of whatever ailment I might have.

“Is it the flu? Should you be up? I can watch Charlotte if you need to rest.”

“No, it’s not the flu. He said, well, he said I might be pregnant.”

Heath freezes, his eyes dropping to my stomach and I bite my bottom lip.

“Really?” he whispers, his voice filled with awe.

“Maybe,” I stress and he drops to his knees in front of me.

“Is it wrong that I hope you are?”

“No,” I say as he kisses my stomach, a smile on his lips.

“I love you, Caroline, and whether you are or not, I want to be with you. Forever.”

“I love you, too, and I want to be with you forever, too.”

He kisses my stomach one more time before he stands and tucks me under his arm.

“Let’s go see Charlotte,” he says, and I smile, letting him lead me back across the street to the diner.