Page 2 of Trial By Fire
Broke? More or less. Those college loans were not a great idea, considering the pay rate for my degree, and California rent? Astronomical—even though I'm sharing an apartment.
Add in a car payment and bills and all the things and like a lot of people, I live paycheck to paycheck. My so-called emergency fund is…fundless.
And now let's add a baby to the mix for giggles. Because why not?
Thankfully, I get to escape the scene of premarital bliss and doe-eyed love and catch a breather. I hope.
The girls and I are out the door minutes later, and after Elena transfers Dani's booster seat to the back of my sister-in-law’s crossover SUV, I force myself to focus on the road as I drive the girls over the bridge toward Wilmington.
"Are you okay?" Madi asks from the passenger seat. "You seem a little…tense."
"Fine. I'm fine," I restate quickly. "Just…thinking."
"About the baby?"
My head whips sideways to stare at her before she cries "Red light!" and I brake hard, stopping too fast and too short but thankfully not in the intersection.
"Whoa!" Dani giggles from the back. "That's how my mommy drives."
I didn't realize she has a mom. I mean, every kid does, but I've only ever seen Dani with her dad or Gabriel or lately, EMT Pierce, a coworker of his who is pitching in like others on the crew because of Dani's dad being hospitalized.
The light turns green, and I give us whiplash as I press on the gas. "Sorry, girls. I'm not used to driving this car," I say as an excuse. "Don't judge."
I check the rearview as Dani goes back to watching a cartoon on her tablet, cat-eared headphones in place, and glance at Madison again. "You…know?" I ask in a low tone.
"You've been hurling off and on for days, and you're not sick-sick or you wouldn't be in public, so two and two."
Smart kid, I muse.
"My friend in Virginia got pregnant," she adds. "She puked all the time, too."
Lovely. I wonder if that's my indeterminable future, but given the time I've spent in Carolina Cove running to empty my belly, I'm thinking it is. Another little item to be dealt with while I try to figure out my life.
"Do you know who the dad is?"
I spare her a horrified stare and nod. "Yes."
"Just asking," Madi says a bit defensively. "My friend didn't. They had to do a test."
"How old are you again?" Did I get her age wrong? I thought Bronwyn had said the working age in North Carolina was sixteen but maybe?—
"Sixteen. Almost seventeen."
Okay, then. My grip tightens on the steering wheel, and I make some comment about focusing on driving because of the heavier-than-normal traffic, even though we're barely crawling along.
Had I really offered to bring them downtown on the July Fourth holiday?
We finally arrive and roll in to park. I walk the girls into the hospital, and we make our way up the elevator to the floor where Dani's dad is. I'm still going over Madi's comment in my head—not judging, but just…freaked out—about a girl that young requiring a DNA test.
My baby's father? The first man I was with since I told myself and everyone else I went celibate until I found the right guy because I was tired of dating losers.
Yeah, see how well that worked out.
My stomach pitches and rolls. "I'll leave you inside the room and go grab a snack."
I read that helps with the nausea. To eat small meals often. But as we get to the door and Dani walks inside with a happy, "Daddy, we're here!"…
I feel the sudden urge and—rush to push past her and her very surprised father to the bathroom on the other side of his bed, barely making it in time as I heave.
