One Moment Please: A Surprise Pregnancy Standalone (Wait With Me #3) - Amy Daws Page 0,31
roommate. It’s a struggle, though, because there are some major creeps on Craigslist.”
“Surely, you’re not actually looking for roommates on Craigslist,” I snap, my tone harsh but necessary.
She shakes her head. “Not really, I just looked as a joke. I am in search of a roommate, though. But since no long-term options have come up, I’m going to join my fellow millennials and move in with my parents.” Her face suddenly pales. “I can’t even think about how they’ll react to this situation. They’re super conservative Catholics, so I’m sure my mother will call the priest right over to see if my soul can be saved.”
“Shit,” I murmur, digesting her words as I continue my work.
“Yeah,” she grunts. “Some catch I am. No wonder my Tinder date abandoned me.”
A tear slips down her cheek.
I frown and ask the only question I can emotionally handle right now. “Why can’t you find a job? Didn’t you just get your master’s degree in psychology?”
“Yes,” she croaks, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “I’ve been too picky, I guess. I want to work with kids, and Boulder doesn’t have anything for me right now, so I’m expanding my search to Denver. There are some promising options there.”
My brow furrows. “Would you move there?”
She shrugs. “If I could afford it.”
“I see.” I tie a knot on the last stitch and smear antiseptic cream over the wound before wrapping gauze around it and fastening it with a hook. “All done.”
Turning away, I yank my gloves off and toss them on the tray, my mind imploding on itself over all the elements in play right now. It’s too much. It’s too much for me to digest at the moment. I have other patients to see, so this problem can just wait until I have time to think.
I stand and run a hand through my hair. “We obviously have some things to discuss.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Ya think?”
I pull my phone from my pocket, my jaw muscle ticking. “I’m working now, so why don’t you give me your number, and I’ll call you to set up a meeting once I’ve thought things over.”
“A meeting?” she asks, taking my phone and typing in her number.
“Yes, a meeting. A meetup. Whatever you call this.”
She hesitantly hands it to me. “Josh, you do believe me when I tell you there’s been no one else, right?”
I watch her face for a moment, taking in her blotchy skin, her watery brown eyes, and wild chestnut hair. There are many things this woman is, but a liar isn’t one of them. “I believe you.”
A wobbly smile lifts her expression. “Okay. But you should know that I don’t expect—”
“I’m going to pass your chart off to the nurse. She’ll get you set up with an obstetrician and give you discharge instructions,” I interrupt, not ready to even begin to unpack the baggage we have. “I’ll…call you.”
I nod woodenly before turning on my heel and leaving. Walking down the hall, I exhale heavily. That probably looked pretty bad. She may have left my house like a thief in the night, but right now, I’m acting like a man on the run.
I’m seated on the floor of my newly empty living room still in shock that my entire life fit into a tiny little storage pod that the moving guys just drove off with twenty minutes ago. The pod will be kept at some industrial park in Boulder until I figure out what the hell I’m going to do with my life.
My life as its current state…
No job…check.
No place to live…check.
No love life to speak of…big, fat, bolded check.
And as if that list wasn’t sparkling enough, now I’m pregnant with a stranger’s baby…check, check, check.
I lean my head against the wall and let out a deep sigh.
How did I go from living my best life as a student, hanging with friends, wild and free, to being pregnant, jobless, and moving in with my parents? Where the hell did I go wrong?
Hot tears trail down my face. Tears have become my new best friend these past few days as I’ve processed this unexpected news.
This isn’t how my life was supposed to go. I have plans, goals, a career to start. I should’ve been in love and married to someone before I became a mother. And I certainly never intended to have a baby with a guy who can barely tolerate me.
How in the hell am I going to tell my parents all of