moment.
âKelsi?â
Stupid, irrelevant thoughts tumbled over and over in her head. When had her last period been? But all she came upwith was an empty feeling. A blankness that just couldnât be good.
âI used a condom.â Clearly he was thinking the same thing.
âYes.â Her voice cracked. âYou checked it after, right?â
He stared at her but wasnât really seeing her. She knew he, too, was thinking back on those cataclysmic moments when theyâd been in the water. Waist deep, theyâd rolled and swapped positions again and again and pushed it every which way.
His face became more rigid as the seconds dragged. âI swam after. I just scrunched it up and put it in my pocket to get rid of later.â
So he hadnât checkedâit could have shredded. Neither of them knew for sure. And, given the sustained action the thing had endured, it probably had.
Oh, no.
âCome on,â He said suddenly, taking her hand in a tight grip and next thing he was walking her out of the flat, down the path, dragging her behind him like one of those wooden pull-along toys.
He went to the driverâs side of her car. âKeys.â
âI thought you believed in walking ,â she said sarcastically, needing to get a bite in.
âRight now I really feel like running.â
Ha ha.
She got in the car and gripped her hands tight together, pressing them to her chest. âWhere are we going?â
âThe supermarket.â
She looked blankly at him.
âTo get a pregnancy test.â
Supermarkets stocked pregnancy tests? And he knew this how?
âThey have everything. If they donât weâll try the pharmacy.â
But the supermarket did have pregnancy testsânext to the lubricant and the ribbed condoms.
âI canât do this.â She dropped her gaze down to the plastersâbrightly coloured ones with cartoon characters on them. She looked to another shelfâkidsâ toothpaste, kidsâ shampoo, kidsâ talc. Everywhere she looked there were kid things. Only a little farther along were nappiesâ nappies!
No, no, no and no again.
Jack didnât answer, just reached up and grabbed two boxesâdifferent brands. Then he took her by the arm again and stalked to another aisle, picked up a bottle of juice.
âI prefer apple,â she said, just to retain some element of control.
âThere must be a bathroom somewhere round here.â He looked around the building.
âI am not doing this in a public loo.â She shook her head, appalled. âIâm going home.â
He frowned but nodded. âIâm coming with you.â
She saw the look in his eyes and decided not to argue. She went ahead so she wouldnât have to see the checkout operatorâs eyebrows lift when she scanned those few specific items.
He got in the car and handed her the bottle. She held it in a death grip but she couldnât drink. She didnât want to moveânot even an inch, not ever again. The bottle was taken from her and he took a gulp from it. Sheâd laugh if she wasnât so scared. He was on her heels as she walked up the path to her building. She could feel his breath on her shoulder as she unlocked the door. But when he walked with her up to the bathroom door she drew the line.
âIâm having privacy for this.â
âOf course. Iâll be right here.â He handed her the plastic shopping bag, then took up position leaning against the wall right outside.
This just couldnât be happening. Just couldnât.
Sheâd never done a pregnancy test in her life, but it wasnât as if it was hard. Hideous, yes, as her stomach swirled with sickened nerves. She held the little stick thing in front of her and watched as she waited to see if her life really was ruined. Sheâd opened the most expensive one first, hoping it meant greatest accuracy, but all it meant was that it was