The Boot (Book 1)

Chapter Thirty-One

JOHN

It feels like time stops for a brief moment. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, a steady thump! thump! thump! Along with the sound of my blood wooshing in my head. My breathing is anxious but controlled. I have to remember to breathe.

"John. John? John!" Bailey shouts, snapping me out of my dazed trance, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sorry, what?"

"You haven't said anything. I have no idea what you're thinking about right now."

I rub my hand over my face, resting on my chin. With a thoughtful hum, I nod about nothing in particular. "Hm. Yes. Well. What do I think? That's a fantastic question."

"I understand why you're shocked. I was too."

My throat is incredibly dry, likely due to the fact that my mouth has been hanging open for... I don't even know how long at this point. "I- I- I- I don't-" I wet my lips with my tongue and take a deep breath to ground myself. "Are- Are- Are you- Are you sure?"

Bailey nods to her purse which is on the floor near my chair. I pick it up and hand it to her. She digs through its contents briefly before pulling something out and giving it to me.

I flip it over in my hand, my eyes scanning the digital pregnancy test. It's positive. "Holy sh!t."

Bailey mindlessly plays with the hem of her hospital gown. "I found out last week," she mumbles.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I ask, finally tearing my eyes off of the test and looking up at her.

She shrugs. "I don't know. I guess part of it was because I was in denial about it myself. I didn't even know how I felt about it. I suppose I wanted to figure that out first, y'know, get a more solid idea of my feelings about it before I said anything."

"I suppose that makes sense. But that's not the only reason, is it?"

She frowns and shakes her head. "No. I was also really worried about how you would react. I was scared that you'd be angry and upset at me."

"At you? No, of course not. It's not like you got pregnant on purpose. The only thing that I'm even remotely upset about is the fact that it took you so long to tell me. And I'd hardly say I'm upset about that, either. Your reasoning makes total sense to me. You needed time to process the news, and I get that."

"And then," she says after a beat. "There just wasn't a good opportunity to tell you. Things kept happening and the time was never right."

"Yeah, this past week especially has been a bit of a sh!t show."

We are both silent for a brief moment. "So you're not mad at me?"

"Of course not!"

"But we didn't plan for this. We both decided not to have kids. We agreed that we didn't want to have any."

"Sometimes life happens and not everything can go according to plan. We are just going to have to adjust accordingly to whatever life decides to throw at us."

"So you want to have this baby?"

"What I do or do not want doesn't matter here. It's your body, and I have absolutely no say or control over whatever decisions you choose to make about it."

"I already know what I want. I would just like to know how you feel about it before I tell you my decision."

I sigh. "I didn't think I wanted more kids," I say and she visually deflates at this. "But... now that it's more than just an idea, now that it's an active possibility, I'm honestly kind of excited."