Page 38 of Blackout-

“If Jack knew I was here, he’d be here too. He thinks I’m at a PTA meeting.”

“You go to those things?”

“Hell, no. Every mother at the school can’t stand me. If I ever walked into one of those meetings, they’d likely stone me. I’m going to go check on her,” she says, motioning towards the stairs.

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I nod. She makes it halfway up the stairs before I call her name.

“Thanks for this,” I tell her when she turns to look at me.

“You don’t have to thank me,” she replies before disappearing up the stairs. I hear her feet pad across the floorboards, and I start to pace the living room. Ten minutes later she comes into the living room and drops down on the couch.

“Well?”

“Why did you call me here?” she questions, leaning her back against the cushions. Perplexed, I narrow my eyes.

“I told you, she’s been depressed for days. Today was the first day she was able to get out of bed and when she went to work, she got laid off. Reina, she called me to pick her up. She never does that. When we got home, she told me she threw up at the office and had a panic attack afterward.”

“And you think this is all happening because her meds aren’t working,” Reina supplies.

“I don’t fucking know,” I exasperate, pushing my fingers roughly through my hair. “I don’t think it’s the fucking flu that’s for sure and with everything going on with Jack, I got worried—”

“Blackie, Lacey isn’t Jack,” she interjects softly. “Just because his meds are failing doesn’t mean hers are. It doesn’t mean they ever will.”

Dropping my hands to my sides, I stare at her. I suppose she’s right. Lacey doesn’t compare me to every addict she comes in contact with. It’s wrong to assume she’s going to end up like her old man. Still, it’s always the first thought that runs through my mind when something like this happens and I don’t know how to turn that off. I don’t know how to look at her and not see every fight Jack’s ever fought. I don’t know how to be anything other than what I am and before I was ever Lacey’s husband, I was the man who stood in front, behind and on the side of her father. All his battles became mine. My first instinct will always be to stand between her and her mind.

“I’m not a doctor,” Reina continues. “But I agree with you…she doesn’t have the flu.”

Before I can ask her what she thinks I should do, she turns and grabs her purse. Reaching inside, she pulls out a CVS bag.

“Heads up,” she warns before flinging the bag at me.

Catching the bag against my chest, I keep my eyes on her as she stands from the couch and shrugs her jacket on.

“Wait. What’s this? Where are you going?”

“I’m going home,” she says, slinging her purse over her shoulder. “And that…” she pauses, turning to face me. She points to the bag in my hand. “That’s a pregnancy test.”

I don’t know why that makes my palms sweat or my heart hammer inside my chest. I also don’t know why I didn’t think Lacey might be pregnant. Maybe it’s because we’ve only been trying for a couple of weeks and I assumed it would take a lot longer…you know like at least a couple of months.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Reina chastises.

I’m not sure how I’m looking at her.

I can’t feel my fucking face.

“She might be depressed over losing her job, but everything else…the exhaustion and the vomiting…well, those are signs of pregnancy, Blackie. Do you know when her last period was?”

“Am I supposed to know that?” I volley.

She rolls her eyes before turning for the door.

“Have her take the test when she wakes up.”

“Wait!” I call as she pulls open the door. “What if she’s pregnant?”

Stopping in her tracks, she turns her head.

“What do you mean?”

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