Floored - Karla Sorensen Page 0,23

"I'll give you the recap later. Right now, I just need to know."

She sat up, and I couldn't help but smile at the change in her demeanor. My younger by two minutes twin was going into Mom-mode. "Okay. Are we doing this now?"

"I think so."

I hauled my ass off the couch and into the tiny bathroom. Once the box was ripped open, I exhaled. Hard.

"What?" she asked.

Studying the piece of plastic in my hand, I shrugged. "It's just ... what a weird little contraption, right? You pee on the thing, and it tells you whether you're pregnant with a hot British man's baby."

Claire smiled. "How hot?"

"Really, really hot." My answer was so glum, she burst out laughing.

"'Kay, let's do this thing." Her phone must have been propped on something, because suddenly, her laptop was in her lap, and she was typing. One shoulder shrugged. "It does say it's best to wait until the morning when your urine is the strongest. Or something." The incredulous look I gave her had her holding up her hands. "Fine, fine. We're not waiting. Got it. I'm sure your pee is spectacular right now too."

Using the sink and the knobs on the faucet, I did some propping of my own. Once the angle was good, I ripped open the package and set it carefully on the edge of the sink. "Look away if you don't want to see ass," I warned her before shoving my pants down.

"I'm nervous," she admitted.

"You are?"

"Yes! I never thought we'd do our first pregnancy test on FaceTime."

My eyebrows raised slowly. "The fact that you've given our first pregnancy tests any thought at all is freaking me out."

She waved that away. "I know. It's just ... I'm so far away from you."

I kept my face averted from the camera, partially because, well, I was peeing on a stick, and also because if I saw her face when she said that ... I'd lose it.

The cap went into place with a tiny click, and I balanced the test on the ledge of the mirror above the sink.

It felt important to leave the bathroom for my eternal five-minute wait, so I tugged my pants back up and went into the bedroom. And with strategic pillow placement, I propped the phone up next to me in a way where I could convince myself that Claire was cuddling in the twin-size bed with me.

"Remember when Paige and Logan first got married?" she asked. She laid down on her bed too, arranging the phone to mirror my position. "You climbed into the top bunk with me, and we'd lay like this, planning all the pranks you wanted to play on her."

A tear slid down my temple, and my answering laugh was watery. "Yeah. Logan had been both parents for so many years, and I just wanted her to go away so I didn't get too used to her."

"I'm still not used to her," Claire said dryly.

We both laughed at that.

"What's his name?" she whispered.

Before I answered, I filled my lungs, letting them expand fully before I let the oxygen out. "Jude. I met him ... and ..."—I waved my hand—"well, you know that day I was at Buckingham Palace and you asked me if I was bored because I missed home?"

She smiled softly. "Yeah."

"It was that night."

"Ahh." Claire was giving me worried eyes when she spoke again. "Have you seen him since?"

I shook my head. "Just some texting the past few days. He's been busy with work."

"And he was ... is ... nice?"

My shrug was pitiful. "For as much as I talked to him, he seemed like it."

The times I thought about Jude, it wasn't like I was reflecting on his manners.

Oh, how politely he'd ripped my underwear off!

"And you used protection?"

"Yup." I rubbed my face.

Claire was quiet.

"I wish I was there, Lee." She sniffed. "This is really hard."

My hands stayed right the hell over my face. "I know."

I wished she was with me too. I'd make her walk the mile into my tiny bathroom. I'd make her check the test against the instructions because she was more patient than I was and she'd actually read them. I'd lay in this bed until she walked out of the bathroom, until she climbed back into bed with me and told me if I was going to have a baby about a decade earlier than I'd ever planned.

"Lia, you have to go look." Her voice was all wobbly, and I pressed my fingers into my eye sockets.

"No, I