I was going to tell her to get the hell out of my apartment, but then I realized that maybe she had a point. What was I so afraid of? Was I really going to be so intimidated by Quarry that I would lead his daughter on and pretend there might still be a possibility of something happening between us? It was just plain stupid.
“Listen, I’m going to New York with a girl—with Lindsay.”
Brooklyn’s eyes widened and then narrowed, all in the space of about two seconds. She smiled, a little sadly. “I figured.”
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“It’s okay. I understand, Justin.” She looked at me, her eyes a little too shiny.
“Are you happy? Does she make you happy?”
I thought about how best to answer, but finally I just nodded. It was the truth, after all. “She does.”
“Good.” Brooklyn smiled again. She looked down at the floor. “Listen, I don’t want to take up anymore of your time. The thing is, I was thinking of you a lot. I haven’t gotten my period and I was kind of half freaking out about it.”
My stomach curdled and the taste in my mouth went sour. “What?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Justin. Don’t get crazy on me.”
“What do you mean? How late are you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a week.”
“Brooklyn, we used protection.”
“Oh, yeah. I don’t really think it’s anything,” she said, sounding nonchalant.
“But I was kind of nervous and wanted to talk to you about it.”
“Why?”
“Why?” she said, looking at me strangely.
“Yeah, why would you want to talk to me about it? Why wouldn’t you just take a pregnancy test?”
“I was scared to,” she said.
I stared at her. “Let’s go get one right now,” I said. “Come on.”
She shook her head again. “No, I’m not ready.”
“You don’t just come over, drop something like that on me and then refuse to take the test.”
She laughed. “Stop being so ridiculous, Justin. I wanted to see you, that’s why I stopped by. You’re painting me to be something I’m not. I apologize for even saying anything.”
“Brooklyn—“
She pushed past me then, pressing her chest against me as she left, her hair whipsawing against my face, and the scent of fresh flowers lingered in my nostrils as she blew by and down the hallway. “Forget it,” she called out, walking more quickly now.
“You just go and have a good time in New York with your new girlfriend!”
I noticed my hands were clenched and opened them, trying to calm down.
“Brooklyn,” I said again. “Don’t leave. We need to deal with this.”
But she slammed the door and left.
A moment later, my phone buzzed with a text. I was sure it was Brooklyn, but then I thought—no, maybe it was Lindsay. The thought of telling Lindsay that Brooklyn was pregnant made me sick to my stomach.
But she’s not pregnant, I reminded myself. You used protection. Brooklyn is crazy—there’s nothing to tell Lindsay.
When I checked my phone, I was relieved to see that there was a message from Gil.
You around tonite?
I thought about it. No, there was too much to do. I had to pack and get ready, and Gil might want to know what was going on. Now that he was sober, he might even have opinions about it. He might think I should do or say something different than what I wanted to do or say, and I didn’t want to deal with that right now.
I decided to text him later and pretend that I’d just seen his text when it was already too late to hang out. Part of me felt a little bit bad doing that, but another part of me felt like I needed to stop worrying about Gil.
He’s a big boy and you’ve got your own problems. Hell, switching places with Gil sounds good right about now, and you never thought you’d say that, did you?
I went to go pack.
LINDSAY
“This is so fucked up,” Carter said, juggling a sheaf of papers and his laptop. As he did, his computer almost fell out of his hands and onto the ground. “Where the hell is he?”
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon,” I said. We’d just gone through airport security and were standing in the waiting area in front of the gate. Our flight was going to be boarding soon, and we had no idea where Dr. Klaxton was or when he was going to show up.
“You’d think he would have answered his phone,” Carter grumbled.
“I’m sure he’s on his way.” It was a lie, of course. I wasn’t sure he was on his way. Dr. Klaxton was a total wild card. He could have been anywhere. But I had to say something. Carter was really on edge.
He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “He better be here soon,” Carter said. “I really do not want to have to explain to a room full of doctors and drug executives that Dr. Klaxton missed his flight.”
“You won’t,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I won’t let you. If he’s late, then I’ll announce it to everyone.”
“You will?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ll totally get up there and let everyone know what a prick he is for not showing up.”
Carter laughed. “Yeah, I can just imagine that, you getting up there and announcing it to everyone.”
I pursed my lips and pretended to be thinking about it. “I could totally do it.
‘Sorry, but Dr. Klaxton couldn’t make it here. He was too busy messing around with a student.’”