Page 111 of No Place Like You

“Shut up.”

“Geez.” If this is any indication of what Nat would be like pregnant, it’s going to be a long nine months.Ifthis timer goesoff any time soon.

Just then, the thrill of a bell goes off on my phone.

“Is it time?”

I nod. We both slowly walk toward the toilet tank where the pregnancy test sits, approaching it like we’re hunting a frightened bunny.

Nat suddenly jolts backward. “I can’t look!”

“Nat!”

“No! Look at it for me!”

“Oh. My.God,” I groan. “You’re so dramatic.”

“What am I going to tell Hayden?”

“Well, we don’t know, do we? We have to look at the test before we know what to tell him.”

She shakes her head dramatically. “Just look at it for me. I can’t do it.”

I roll my eyes. I feel Nat start a round of jumping jacks behind me to settle her nerves. I take a deep breath, suddenly realizing that I’m nervous too.My sister’s going to have a baby!

I blow out a deep exhale. I have to keep my cool. Especially with Simone Biles doing a double backflip behind me. When I look down at the porcelain tank, I dart my eyes to the teeny-tiny digital screen on the white and blue stick, just in time to catch the word “pregnant” flashing in front of me.

“Oh my god.”

“What?! What, what?!” Nat shrieks.

I grip the pregnancy test in my fist, ignoring the fact that my sister peed on it, and swivel on my feet to face Nat. “You’re pregnant!”

“What?!”

I shove the test in her face at the same time she holds my fist in her hands and reads the result. “Oh my god.”

“Nat!”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” she says, panic glazing over her eyes.

“What? Here,” I urge, ushering her back to the toilet.

As she’s about to cower over the seat, we hear the door open from my living room. The opening and closing of the front door is followed by boisterous laughter and loud chitter-chatter. Hayden and Nat came over so the guys could go out for some drinks while Nat stayed home with me to catch up over takeout. About an hour into Nat nibbling on her cheese pizza, she confessed to me that her period had been over a week late. And that caused a domino effect of events. Me excited at the thought of my sister and her husband having a baby, us frantically running to the nearest bodega for a pregnancy test and the pack of Starburst Nat was eyeing at the counter, her yelling at me to give her some privacy while she peed on the stick even though she’s used the bathroom plenty of times with me in it.

“They’re back,” I say. Nat looks up at me, and I swear she’s going to cry. “Nat, he’s not going to be mad.”

“I know,” she responds tearfully.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“This wasn’t planned,” she says just as her eyes start to mist over. “I’m not ready to be a mom.”

“Lucy!” I hear Dexter call from the other side of the door. “Are you guys in there?” A light knock follows his question.

“Come on,” I say gently.

Nat wipes her tears and watches me walk toward the door. Instead of following me, she plops herself on the edge of the tub again. “Can you send him in?”

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