Page 69 of This Love
I tried a different search.
“Red coming out of body.”
That was worse. Anal fissures. Was it coming out of my butt?
I checked.
Nope.
But it was thicker now. Wait. Was this blood?
And it was coming out more toward the front. And some of it was stringy.
Another cramp seized me. What the hell?
I tried another Google.
“Stringy blood and cramps.”
I read only a few lines and realized this was a period. Of course, it was. Flo at the diner used to complain about them all the time, her situation made even worse because people sometimes called menstrual cycles “Aunt Flo.”
This should have been happening once a month. Why hadn’t it been? And why was it coming now?
I scanned more information. Pregnancy stopped cycles. But I hadn’t had one since my memory reset, even in the months before Tucker and I were back together.
I peered into the bowl. It wasn’t coming fast. Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad.
I Googled what to do. Insert a tampon, a menstrual cup, or use a pad. I rolled up a pile of toilet paper and trapped it in my panties, then searched all the cabinets in the bathroom even though I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find any of those things.
And I was right. Nothing.
So, this hadn’t happened to me before? Not ever? Why not?
A knock on the door startled me. “Ava, are you okay?”
“Yes!” I called. God. I should tell Tucker.
But something about this embarrassed me deeply. Why? It was just a period. Maybe it was the way Flo had talked about it. Or the tone of the articles I’d read. This was something you kept to yourself. Something private.
I’d keep reading in the car. I could stop at a store on the way to Houston and buy what I needed.
After checking to make sure the toilet paper wad was handling the mess, I pulled up my black dress pants and washed my hands. Another cramp hit. Gah. Being female sucked.
Tucker waited in the hall, holding a laundry basket full of gifts. “Everything all right?”
“Yeah. Just bathroom stuff.”
I frantically studied my options in the car as we drove through town. Tampons sounded difficult and invasive. Menstrual cups, too. I decided that pads with wings would work for today until I had time to figure out how to handle the other things.
“Can we stop at that CVS?” I asked as we approached the freeway.
“Sure. You forget something?”
“Yeah.” I decided saying less was more.
He pulled into the parking lot.
“I’ll run in.” I lunged out of the car.
