Free Scars of the Future by Kay Gordon Page B

the apartment was spent alone. I wanted to be the one to tell Matt, and I knew he deserved to be told first. Getting Matt alone to tell him was the hard part.
    I unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out into the office where I worked, the steady buzz of conversation going on throughout. The senior social worker who I shadowed raised an eyebrow at me.
    “I thought morning sickness ended in the first trimester.”
    I sighed and fell into the chair next to her, picking up the file I had been reading before my bathroom dash.
    “Me too, Jill. But I also thought the word ‘morning’ implied it only happened during that time. Seeing as it’s almost five in the afternoon, I’m pretty sure I just have ‘sickness’.”
    I had told Jill when I first began working two weeks ago, not wanting to start off my job on a lie. She was very understanding and said it wasn’t a big deal- especially because I was due when my internship was supposed to end, anyway. She had also hinted several times that I’d be able to come back after having the baby and go right into a permanent position. 
    “So are you going to tell them after the wedding?” She asked curiously. The wedding was happening in twenty-four hours and I had butterflies just thinking about it.
    “Yes. I’m going to tell the father first, though.” I picked up my water and drank half of it before replacing it on the desk. “That’s the tricky part. Chances are he is going to be mad at me, too. He’s not my biggest fan lately.”
    Jill reached over and pat my stomach with a smile. “It will work out. Hopefully you still fit into your bridesmaid dress.”
    Jill Bryant had been a social worker for over twenty years and she had seen it all. Shadowing her had been amazing so far and she had the uncanny ability to be right about almost everything. She was about a head shorter than me, but her fierce attitude made me look like a kitten. She mainly took on cases that involved children under eighteen, and I was hoping to oversee cases for the elderly once I was a real social worker. The experience I was getting under Jill was invaluable either way, and I appreciated the opportunity.
    “I told the seamstress when we bought them in July that I needed a few extra inches, just in case. Luckily it has an empire waist, though, so it shouldn’t be too bad. I almost got caught by Sydney when I was talking to the seamstress about it.” I thought that Sydney had figured it out sometimes, but if she had she hadn’t mentioned it to me yet.
    “Okay, I’m out of here if you don’t need me anymore. I have to meet the girls at the apartment for the night.”
    Jill waved me off and wished me well for the weekend as I walked towards the elevator. The day had been long and when I sat in my car I wanted to collapse in exhaustion. Instead of going to the house, I drove to the apartment where I was staying the night with Sydney and Maddie.
    I used my key to unlock the door, pushing it open and glancing around. No one was there yet, so I put the bottles of wine I’d bought the day before on the counter and let out a tired breath. I’d managed to get away without drinking alcohol around the girls so far, and I was hoping that the drinking would be minimal tonight. We had gone to Oregon almost a month ago and Maddie had insisted on doing a wine tasting. I had done by best to limit the wine I swallowed without any questions. The next day we went to a P!nk concert and I pretended it was a hardship for me to be the designated driver since our hotel was fifty miles away. I was proud of myself for maintaining the cover so far, but I was afraid tonight would blow it.
    I put the bottles in the fridge to chill and took in the empty the apartment. Until last month, the three of us had lived here for over four years, but we had all slowly tapered off since the summer began. Sydney spent every night with David since he had been released from the hospital, although she refused to declare herself as