Page 55 of Love Me Boldly

“I know. I’m rambling.”

I reached out and squeezed her hands that were knotted together in her lap. “I’m sure. I’m not the first college kid to have a baby. I might have had less time to prepare for his arrival, but I candothis. Iwantto do this.”

“What about leaving after graduation? Starting a life on your own? Getting out of this town? Raising a baby and starting a new career will be so freaking difficult.”

“We’ll figure that out as we go.”

“What about Graham?”

I huffed and opened my door. “That’s done. You know it, I know it, and he knows it.”

“It didn’t sound?—”

“I’ve already blocked him, Tracey. If it wasn’t done before last night, it was done the moment Jonah was crying in my arms.”

I’d blocked him around four in the morning. He’d know what that meant. It was the worst ending to something that had the potential to be beautiful, but even if Sophie’s death wouldn’t be forever between us, I now had other responsibilities. Dating college guys who were gone half the time playing hockey and wanted to start their own lives and own families no longer factored into my future.

“Okay.” She sighed and climbed out her door. I walked around the car and reached into the back seat and grabbed the car seat handle.

Okay. Done. Moving on. Nothing else mattered except for taking care of Jonah, making sure he was okay, and graduating college.

The rest would come with time.

I walked up the short walkway to the building’s front door, took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped into a whole new world. A whole new life I wasn’t sure I was ready for, but that didn’t matter.

It was already here, and I had to figure out how to live it.

SEVENTEEN

HOLLY

Present Day - Six Years Later

“You okay?”Dr. Ellis Myers pushed away from the foot of the exam table.

“Great.” I gritted my teeth together until she came back, moved my feet back to the paper sheet-lined exam table, and shoved the stirrups away.

“Let me help you up.” She reached out and took my hand, pulling me back to a sitting position.

“You’ll have some cramping later today, maybe for the next two or three. You can take ibuprofen, but if it becomes too unbearable, call the office, and I’ll get a prescription sent in, okay?”

“Okay.” I sighed as I pushed my gown down. My head spun, and it wasn’t from lying down and letting her shove a needle up my hoo-ha and take a chunk of my flesh out with her.

Biopsy. Abnormal Pap smear. For the last two weeks my head had swum with fears and possibilities. All the hours I’d spent googling my symptoms was a bad idea.

Here I was, twenty-eight years old, getting a biopsy done on my uterus.

Nothing good could come of it.

“Any questions?”

I blinked and realized the doctor had kept talking.

Such was life these days. I lived with my head in the clouds, trying to fight against all the worst-case scenarios.

“How long?” I swallowed and tried to fight through my fears and worries. “How long until the results come back?”

The doctor’s expression told me she’d already said it, but she reached out and pressed her hand to my knee. “Up to two weeks at the latest, but I’ll try to work to get them back earlier.Rest, Holly, okay? You’re young. It’s probably just a scare.Don’tlet your mind race to worst cases, okay? We’ll cross those bridges when we get there.”

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