Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
In our new house, we still have our own rooms, just in case we have to deal with a snooping visitor and because we just want to keep our situation special and private from the press, so why take any risks? But we generally sleep in a puppy pile. We often fall asleep after worshipping our Alyssa for a few hours. To that end, we did decide to splurge on the biggest bed we could find. It’s worth it for the times when we are not traveling. Being together in L.A. is special for us and why not make the most of it?
Rhys mumbles something unintelligible in his sleep. I am disturbing him so I decide to get up and search for her instead. I carefully extricate myself from the sheets and check around the hallway, peek into the other rooms, before I go to the bathroom door, where I hear faint retching.
“Alyssa! Are you okay? Let me in?”
“I’m fine!” I hear a muffled cry. “I’m fi—”
Immediately the retching starts again.
“I’m coming in,” I say, and as I close my hand on the doorknob, I’m already starting to go over in my head the things that we had for dinner last night, contrasting and comparing, figuring out if she ate anything we didn’t, or whether we are all going to get some kind of food poisoning or stomach bug. The doorknob opens easily. “Alyssa, I’m sorry to barge in! I’m worried.”
Alyssa is on the bathmat on the floor, leaning over the toilet while holding her hair back. It’s blonder now. Gregory made her go to a proper hairdresser who scolded her about the box dye, which apparently wrecks your hair and is therefore is “not for superstars.” I rush to her side and carefully lift it out of her face as she retches violently again.
“Cam, what are you doing? I don’t want you to see me like this.” She looks up at me. Her face is pale with a slight sheen of sweat.
“It’s okay, honey,” I say, trying out the classic endearment. It feels weird. Nothing has really stuck with her for me as to pet names. “Did you eat something funky? I think we all had the same food as you. When did this start?”
“I don’t think it’s food poisoning,” she says slowly as she leans away from the toilet bowl, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. I take the opportunity to wet a washcloth and dab it on her forehead. “Food poisoning doesn’t last this long.”
“How long has it been happening? Do you have a headache?”
“No…”
“Then what’s going on?”
She wipes her mouth and stands up. “It’s been happening for the last week.”
Why I haven’t noticed? “The last week! Have you been to the doctor?”
“Not yet.” A small smile flashes across her face. “But I did go to the pharmacy with Marina.”
“Pharmacy,” I say. “So did you get any meds?”
“Not exactly.” She slides a drawer open and reaches in. “We got this.” She tosses me a small cardboard box. I catch it, but as my fingers close over it, the words on the box become clear: Early Answer: HCG Test for Pregnancy. I look up at her, my mouth falling open. “I’ve been too scared to do the test,” she says, her eyes filling with tears. “Marina bought them for me. We figured there is less of a chance the paparazzi would be watching her, at least until her film comes out.”
“Good thinking,” I nod. “But why didn’t you say anything to us? To me?”
“There was nothing definitive to say,” she says.
“I want to be here for you,” I say, taking her in my arms. “We all do.”
“I know, Cam, but this might be too much for all of us.”
I hesitate. “Do you want to take the test now?”
“I guess?” she answers, as I brush a stray lock of her hair away from her face. Even scared, even sick, to me she looks beautiful. “If you will stay with me.”
“Of course,” I murmur.
She flushes the toilet and sticks her thumbs in the sides of her pants, ready to slide them down. She shoots me a look and despite seeing her naked every which way for the last six months, I turn around to give her some privacy. Fingers fumbling, I unwrap the test and pass it to her behind my back, and then unfold the page of instructions from the box and scan it. Two blue lines means pregnant, one line means not pregnant. Three minutes until we know our fate.
I hear some tinkling, a flushing sound.
My heart is in my throat. What will it mean if we have a child together? I never thought of us being fathers. She does up her pants with a snap and washes her hands. I feel her arms circling my waist from behind, the test clutched in her hand.