Page 70 of Redeeming 6

“I’m… No, that can’t be right.” Shaking my head, I reached into my bag and grabbed my phone. “I’m due on…” Tapping furiously on the buttons of my shiny new Nokia 3510i, my secret Santa Christmas present from Nana Healy, I searched through the calendar notes, panic rising in my chest at a rapid speed. “I’m not late— Oh, thank Jesus!” Exhaling a ragged breath when I found what I was looking for, I handed the phone to Casey and physically sagged in relief. “See?”

“What am I looking at here?”

“I knew I wasn’t late,” I told her, pointing at the saved note. “I had a switch-up a couple of months back where it came early, but I’m fine, see? My last one started on the fourteenth.”

“Yeah, that was December, Aoife.”

“What?” I shook my head. “No, no, that was January.”

“No, babe,” she corrected, tapping her long nail against the screen of my phone. “It was December.”

“That can’t be right.”

“Tell me that you had a period last month?” she begged, her voice holding a note of anxiety similar to the feeling rising up inside of me. “Aoife, please. Tell me—”

“I did,” I strangled out, snatching my phone back up and furiously checking through every calendar note and outbox message I could find, only to come up empty. “Of course I did. I had one at the end of January…except…”

“Except what?”

“Well, it was weird,” I strangled out, feeling my anxiety rise. “It was super light and only lasted a day or two. It was like some light spotting that just tapered off.”

“Dear Jesus,” Casey cried, slapping the heel of her hand against her forehead. “That could have been implantation bleeding.”

“What the hell is implantation bleeding?” I demanded, eyes wide and full of terror. “Implantation of what?”

“Of Joey’s strongest fucking swimmer!” Casey strangled out. “Seriously, I know what I’m talking about. It’s like this teeny-tiny period like spotting that can trick you into thinking you’re having a period. It happened to my cousin Lisa. You know Lisa, with the twins?”

“Yes, Jesus, I know Lisa,” I wailed. “But that’s not happening to me.”

“You had a lot going on back at Christmas.” My best friend gave me a worrying look. “You know, with Joey going off the rails and stuff. Maybe you missed a pill or something?”

“I’m not pregnant, Casey!” I practically hissed, feeling the blood rush to my head at record speed. Heat encompassed my body, flooding my cheeks and making me want to run at top speed as far away from this conversation as I could get. “I’m not, okay? I can’t be. And I never miss my pill. Never.”

“I know you don’t.” She was quick to soothe, reaching out to place a hand on mine. “I believe you.” She exhaled heavily before continuing. “It’s just that you and Joey were going through all of that crap in the new year, and your head was a little screwed up. Maybe it slipped your mind.”

“No,” I snapped, rejecting any other thoughts. “Nothing slipped my mind. I’m careful, Case.”

“Were you on antibiotics?” she offered then. “Because certain types can mess with the pill and make it ineffective. Because that’s how my own mam ended up with me.”

“No,” I strangled out, feeling weak. “Nothing like that.”

“Were you sick? Have you had any bugs?”

“Casey!”

“Because your period has deserted you, you’ve been eating like a horse for the past two months, and your boobs have definitely gotten bigger…” Words trailing off, she reached for the hem of my jersey. “And I mean, no offense, babe, but you do look like you’ve packed a couple of pounds on your lower belly.”

“Stop it!” I cried out, holding a hand up. “Just stop, okay?”

“I’m trying to be supportive here, Aoife,” she defended.

“Well, don’t,” I cried out. “I did the right thing, Casey. I followed the rules. I waited for the right guy. I took my time. I took the damn pill. This is not supposed to happen to me. Seriously, this is all a big mistake.”

“Maybe?” she offered with a grimace. “Or maybe, you need to consider making an appointment with your doctor, because whether you want to believe it or not, Aoife, it’s looking a lot like—”

“Shh. Don’t say it. Just start praying.”

“To who?”

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