The Maybe Daddy

2. Sickness....

Affie got there five minutes too late, though Mandy hadn’t plucked up the courage to check the results.  She stood by the kitchen counter, rubbing her arms furiously, as if trying to get warm.  Affie went straight to her, and threw her arms around her friend.

‘We’re gonna get through this, no matter what that little stick says. Okay?’

Mandy nodded, numbly. She felt as if pins and needles coursed through her arms and legs, her body seemed a lead weight, and she was incapable of moving.  Affie held her close, feeling her friends heart beat coursing fast, and trying to be the level headed one, she decided to step closer to the test.

Mandy had placed it on the coffee table. Light was streaming in to the lavish apartment, and as she gingerly approached it, she took a moment to look around the room. At years of hard work paying off for a dear friend. She was surprised at the lump in her throat. Her usually cool calm exterior was about to be dented. If this test was a positive she feared the worst for Mandy.  She’d be forced to choose between her job and her child, that much was for certain. Her hours, the travel, they weren’t condusive to being a mother.

Even as she bent down, to pick up the test, the results were obvious. Every girl knew what two lines meant, whether you’d done a test before or not. She tried not to react, but she knew her back stiffened, and she knew that Mandy would pick up on that.

‘It’s positive’ Mandy sighed, and dropped down to the floor, her back against the counters.  Mandy’s shoulders heaved with sobs. Affie came and sat with her, the offending test in her hands still. For a while, all she could do was be there for her friend. Words weren’t necessary right now, where there was so much uncertainty. Affie felt her friends head slope down onto her shoulder and she stroked her hair.

She had called Allegra Cascarino the following morning, feigning a stomach bug. Now and again staff made use of the website to login remotely and edit articles, if they couldn’t get into the office. She knew Allegra often used the site to track workload whilst attending meetings out of town.  She decided to keep her mind busy and continue working on her new feature. She had been given a list of the latest bedroom furniture innovations, from various designers, and she was to create a virtual bedroom space for those looking to follow the seasons trends.  As she worked, she ignored the incessant beeping of her phone. Affie had left reluctantly, but she knew of no words of comfort that could ease her dearest friends mind. 

She knew she had a catalogue somewhere from a new German designer, Ez Klinsmann, and between bouts of sickness, she rifled through a pile of papers in the kitchen. As she tossed aside takeaway menus and bills, she found the flyer for the club ‘Risk’. Breathing deeply, once more trying to resist the urge to be violently sick, she ran her manicured nail over the embossed logo. Without another seconds thought, she grabbed her coat. 

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The night before had been a roaring success, and a team of cleaners canvassed the club, sprucing it up for the next night of business. Mandy sidestepped a portly man cleaning the reflective black door, and entered the club. In spite of her inebriation, she did remember arriving here, and admired the contemporary coolness, the modern touches that would draw people back week after week.  She strolled up to the bar, the fresh air she had filled her lungs with protecting her from her morning sickness. At least for now.