Page 13 of Lick

“Normally, you’d bypass us completely and self-refer yourself to maternity services, but as you’re here now, I’ll do it for you. Do you know when the date of your last period was?”

I shake my head. “They’ve been almost non-existent for the last year; I thought I was going through the menopause early,” I admit as she makes a note.

“You’d be surprised how often I hear that. You’re not the first person to have an oops baby, thinking they wouldn’t be likely to conceive now.”

She’s making it sound like I had unprotected sex when I didn’t, but I keep my mouth shut because my temper is starting to spike, and the last thing I want to do is get myself banned from the doctor’s surgery.

“I’ll do your weight and blood pressure while you’re here. Your midwife, when you see her, will explain all this to you, of course. But your pregnancy will be considered high risk due to your age.”

I can’t help but snort. I was considered high risk before, but because I was so young. Now I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum. Joy.

She waffles on while I have my weight taken and my blood pressure checked.

“Your blood pressure is a little high, but nothing to worry about just yet.”

“I probably wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t needed to scale a mountain to get here.”

“Just take care of yourself. Baby needs mom to be healthy so they can be healthy. Lots of rest and sleep, a healthy, nutritious diet, and avoiding stress.”

I don’t bother telling her I live alone and have to go to work if I want to be able to do things like pay my bills and eat.

“Thank you,” I tell her, getting to my feet.

“Congratulations, Miss Richards. I know it’s scary now, but I can assure you it will all be worth it in the end.”

I blink at her before I hurry away. The woman is dense. She’s lucky I didn’t wrap my hands around her throat and choke her out. I head for the surgery door when I feel my stomach churn once more and have to make a detour to the toilets to puke.

By the time I make it home, I’m ready to curl up into a ball and pass out, but the second I walk inside, my phone starts ringing. I pull it out after I close the door and groan when I see it’s Dan calling me. I’d love nothing more than to ignore it, but something might be wrong with the kids.

I hit accept and hold it to my ear as I toe off my shoes and walk over to the sofa, easing myself down.

“Emma? It’s Dan. Is Sophie with you?”

“No. Why, what’s wrong?”

He sighs, and I can picture him sitting on the sofa, running his hands through his hair in frustration. “She saw something that upset her, and now she won’t answer my calls.”

“Well, she hasn’t been answering mine either, so I’m not sure how I can help,” I tell him, even as I fire off a text to Sophie asking her if she’s okay.

“Things are…fragile right now. I’m in the running to be made a partner, but we need to present a united front. I can’t have Sophie overreacting about things she knows nothing about.”

I lean back and sigh. “She caught you cheating on Melissa, didn’t she?”

“She was confused. She misunderstood what she saw, and now she is blowing everything out of proportion. I need you to talk to her. Tell her to calm the fuck down before she embarrasses herself and me.”

I wedge the phone between my jaw and shoulder as I slip my hand inside my T-shirt and slide my bra strap down. I switch shoulders and do the other before I unhook the clips and pull the thing through my sleeve. There, much better.

“Emma!” he snaps.

“Look, Dan. I’m sorry you’re going through a hard time now with our daughter, but I don’t hold any sway with her. If you remember correctly, our children have had little to do with me since the divorce, and you have done even less to stop it.”

“So, this is about revenge? Spite?”

“No, Jesus, it’s none of those things. Believe it or not, Dan, I don’t sit around all day stirring my cauldron while I try to come up with new and inventive ways to torture you. Sophie won’t take my calls or respond to my texts. You’re going to have to fix this yourself. Saying that, I doubt it will be that hard.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because she’s forgiven you for your dalliances before.”