Page 31 of Sloth
“Ummm, yes.” I grit my teeth and hope she’ll forgive me. I sure as hell need my best friend right now. “How did yo?—”
“One of his horses took off, and I caught it. He gave me a whole lecture about how I should be more careful in my condition.” A vein I’ve never seen before pops up in her forehead, showing me how mad she is.
“Well, he’s right, what were you thinking?” I scold her, avoiding the coffee machine and pouring myself a glass of water instead.
“This pregnant thing takes some getting used to.” She shakes her head.
“You really should be taking better care of yourself. Are you taking prenatal vitamins?” I check. I did a little research before Luke finished work last night, and there’s so many things I need to be wary of.
“Are you?” she asks judgmentally.
“No, but I will be. I should have got some while we were out of town yesterday.” I cuss myself for not thinking as I sit down at the table.
“How do you manage with this constant sick feeling? It’s horrendous, and I swear it’s in my head because it wasn’t there a few days ago.”
“You get used to it.” She flaps her hand like it’s no big deal and sits down beside me.
“Did ya tell him?” She quickly moves us on to the reason she’s here.
“I thought we agreed that we’d keep this a secret,” I remind her. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and it’s far too early in the morning for this conversation.
“I’ve been thinking. Your situation is different to mine. You and Luke are together. Kinda…” She shrugs. “But at least you know that you like him.”
“Liza, I don’t even know if the baby is his. And we’re still so brand new. This is supposed to be the exciting part of a relationship, not the part where he’s holding my hair back for me while I puke.”
“You see, that's also the thing…Even if the baby isn’t his, it’s still a part of him. It could be his little niece or nephew.” She shrugs.
“I get what you're doing, Liza, and I appreciate it. But I need to take some time to figure out how I approach this.”
“Tough, ain’t it?” She picks up an apple from the fruit bowl and sinks her teeth into it.
I have so much I should tell her; she knows nothing about Matthew's abuse. If she did, it might help her understand how I’m moving on so quickly, but I’m too drained to go into it all. I just want to go back to bed and hide under my covers.
“Mornin'.” I look up when I hear Luke’s voice, and he’s looking all sheepish and guilty as he steps up toward Liza.
“Liza, about what happened out there. No one else heard, and I want to explain the reason why–”
“My best friend has such a big mouth.” Liza finishes his sentence, looking back to me with that unimpressed look she had before.
“He was here when Mary found the test. We went through the process of elimination together,” I explain, hoping she’ll understand.
“I promise your secret’s safe with me.” Luke draws a zip over his lips.
“Yeah, well, it better be,” She warns him with a scowl.
“Good talk.” He winks at her before heading back out.
“Luke, have you seen my blue dress, the one with the little butt?—”
“Butterflies.” He answers far too quickly, and when he notices the snigger Liza makes at me, I see a little panic in his eyes.
“I…I just remember it cause it’s the dress you were wearing the day Matty went missing. You looked pret—I mean, it’s a pretty dress, and no, I haven’t seen it. Why would I have?” His voice goes all defensive, and I can see how hard Liza is trying not to burst out laughing. “I got work to do, I just wanted to say sorry. I’ll leave you ladies to it.” Luke looks as if he wants to swallow his own damn fist as he charges back out the door, and when I look at my best friend, we both unleash at the same time.
“He’s not doing a very good job of hiding how in love with you he is.” Liza giggles.
“Yeah, well, I guess I’ll have to enjoy it while it lasts.” I know Luke’s a good guy, but is he good enough to take on another man's child? A man he now knows is a monster.
“What do you want that dress for anyway?” Liza asks, quickly changing the subject when she notices me getting sad again.
