Page 59 of Lilly
I turn and glare at him while Dr. Bennett bites her lip to contain hersmile.
“Anyway, what happens next?” I ask, distracting both of them from theiramusement.
“Well, you’ve already had the scan, so I presume you know your predicted duedate.”
I hand over everything I was given at the hospital last night and we sit in silence as she reads it then taps the information into thecomputer.
“Lilly, I know things aren’t easy right now. But clearly, this was meant to happen. I know it’s hard to believe after everything, but you need to embrace it and make the most of the next few months. No matter what happens with the father, life is going to get very…exciting for you.” She doesn’t need to tell me that; I’ve heard enough horror stories from my parents about how much work twinsare.
Before leaving the surgery, I book a midwife appointment for later that week, then Dec drives me home in mycar.
“You’re going to need a new car. This rust bucket isn’t any good for two babies,” he says, referring to my almost clapped out old VolkswagenPolo.
I hear the words, but they don’t resister. Instead, I sit there with my arms wrapped around my middle as I think about how my life is about tochange.
Where am I going to live? Should I move home? How am I going to afford all the stuff I’m going to need? What about mycareer?
Dec’s phone is ringing off the hook all the way home, so I convince him that I’m okay and that he can leave. He’s not happy about leaving me alone, but I can see he’s got a lot going on that he needs to dealwith.
“Honestly, Dec. I’ll befine.”
“And you’ll talk to Mum andDad?”
“Yes,” I say, but I have no idea when or where to even start thatconversation.
“Okay, I’ll ring you when I getback.”
“Okay, loveyou.”
“Love you too, Lilly. You look after yourself,” he says, gesturing to my belly before sliding his helmet on and swinging his leg over hisbike.
I stand there long after the sounds of his bike have faded. I feel like if I go inside, I’ve got all this stuff to think about and deal with. I realise that I can’t stand looking out over the car park forever though, and eventually head backup.
I find my phone between two of the sofa cushions with a flat battery. It must have fallen down there and died while I was trying to get through to Lucas lastnight.
I plug it in to the charger next to my bed and power it up. I’m hopeful that Lucas might have tried to get in touch, but I’m not surprised when the only voicemails and texts I see are from Dec, Imogen and Eve. I’d had loads of calls and texts from both Imogen and Eve after Lucas dragged me from the bar Friday night. I meant to get back to them; they must be going out of their minds wondering how I went from cleaning his room to dating him. But after his freak out that night and then everything else, I haven’t managedit.
I go through them all and feel awful for not getting back them. I close down my messages and stare at the home screen. It’s a picture of Taylor and me from last summer. Before my life went down the pan. It suddenly starts ringing in myhand.
“Oh my God,” I mutter to myself as I look at the caller. I should have been at work this morning. I never even gave it athought.
“Hello?” I don’t need to put on a sick sounding voice. I can already tell that my lack of sleep is making me soundrough.
“Lilly, are you okay?” Hilaryasks.
“Yes, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t able to get to the phone,” I lie withease.
“Don’t worry about that. We were all so worried. Neither Eve or Imogen have been able to get hold of you, and then you didn’t show for work. We’ve been going crazy.” I feel awful—I didn’t even consider them in all ofthis.
“I’m so sorry. I’m fine. I’ll be intomorrow.”
“As long as you’re wellenough.”
We chat for a few more seconds before we both hang up. I lie back on my bed and think about having to be inside Lucas’ suite at the hotel. The thought makes my stomach turn over and before I know what’s happening, I’m running to the toilet to besick.
I sit back against the cold tiles and let my head fall back with a light thud. “What am I going todo?”
I don’t get a chance to ring Imogen and Eve back, because as soon as I leave the bathroom, the buzzer to the flat starts goingcrazy.
