Page 58 of Love Me Ever After
Nausea washed over me. At this point, I had no idea whether it was a pregnancy symptom or a reaction to finding out my boyfriend had ghosted me.
Quickly, I fired off a reply to Sonya, telling her I’d handle everything and see her later. Then I called Georgie. If she had the afternoon off, there was every likelihood she would be up for work already.
“Hey, Ems. How are you doing?”
“Fucking dreadful.”
“How did Mason take the news?”
“I didn’t get to speak to him.”
The words hung in the air, silence crackling after them.
“Okay, I get it.” Georgie sighed. “You want to know for sure before telling him.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “Ha, he probably wouldn’t have listened anyway because he had a half-naked woman in his hotel room.”
“What?”I could sense Georgie’s outrage from here. “He’s cheating and flaunted it in your face? Arsehole!”
“No. I knew who it was, she was someone he worked with out there. I just didn’t expect her to be in his room. And he hasn’t tried to contact me since I hung up on him last night.”
Georgie clicked her tongue. “I’m sorry, Ems. That’s so shit.”
She didn’t have to tell me. “Look, I have to get to work. Sonya’s going to be late and has already left me a to do list as long as my arm.”
“Sure. Did you want to meet up this afternoon and—”
“Yes.” I needed to know one way or the other.
We agreed a time and a place, then said our goodbyes.
In the shower, I examined my body. Except for the tenderness in my tits, everything else looked the same. My tummy was a little bloated, but that was usual for me close to a period. Except I hadn’t had one. I racked my brain, trying to remember when my last one had been. I ran my hands over my stomach, wondering what was happening in there.
It wouldn’t be too long until I found out.
With Sonya beingout of the office, I relished the quietness of being able to work without interruption. I checked our shared drive for the information about the fashion show and fired off a few emails to the participants, asking them to confirm certain details. Next, I called Barbara, only to get her voicemail and left her a message. Then I turned my attention to the things in my own inbox.
Scrolling through, I found one from Naomi, half of the couple I’d seen yesterday about using the Ealynn Marina Hotel as a wedding venue. I began reading and all of a sudden wished I hadn’t. The email began “Thanks for showing us around again yesterday, but I’m sorry to say we won’t be choosing your hotel as our wedding venue…”.
Tears started falling down my cheeks. What had I done wrong? Why didn’t they choose us? And why, in the name of all things holy, was I gettingso fucking upsetabout it? Angrily, I swiped at my cheeks as I scanned the rest of the message. There was some nonsense about costs and how they’d found a venue closer to home for their guests. All the things which would usually make me shrug and move on to the next thing.
Without even taking a test, I already knew in my heart of hearts that I was pregnant.
I managed to get through the rest of the morning without any further issues, except throwing a minor tantrum at Curtis when he couldn’t find me a banana.
Sonya arrived shortly before half past one. “Ems, I’m so sorry. Water started pouring out of my washing machine when I switched it on this morning. If I hadn’t have called a plumber, I’d have been swimming around my kitchen.” She didn’t look as me as she unpacked her bag and hung her jacket on the back of the door.
“Is everything fixed now?”
“Should be the amount I had to pay. Sometimes I think I ought to get a bloke just to help me with these sort of things.” She laughed and sat at her desk. “What’s been going on here?” Finally, she glanced over at me, the smile on her lips slipping away. “Are you okay? You look awfully pale?”
In one of my many visits to the bathroom this morning, I knew I looked like utter shit. My eyes were dark-rimmed and my skin was a deathly shade of grey. Even my best make-up job couldn’t hide it.
“I’m not feeling great, to be honest.” I stared at my keyboard. “In fact, I was wondering if you’d mind me taking the afternoon off?”
Sonya checked her calendar—I already knew there was nothing either of us had to be around for—and nodded. “Sure. You head home and get some rest. Anything I need to know about?”
I told her about Naomi and David’s decision, which she brushed off. Normally, she’d have given me shit about a failed booking, but seemed to sense today wasn’t the day for it. Then I updated her on what I’d done with the fashion show participants and told her I was waiting for Barbara to call me back.
