Before You Go

Chapter Twenty-Two

"You're up early." Carter says through the phone. I can hear the smile in his words. "And it's a Sunday. Who are you and what have you done to my wife?"

I laugh and shake my head even though I know he can't see me. He's on loud speaker on the counter while I'm eating breakfast. Even I'm surprised at how early I woke up this morning, early enough to have breakfast and not just rushing out of the door late.

"I have my doctor's appointment at nine."

"On a Sunday?" He asks. "Are they even open? And didn't you just go yesterday?"

"She works at a hospital, Carter. They're open twenty-four seven." I say and take a sip of my coffee. "She had to cancel last minute and since she knows I'm busy on the weekdays, she'd take me today."

"Your doctor sure is busy." he says, and I can hear other voices from his end of the line but it's not audible enough for me to understand. "Yeah, coming." he says, his voice a little farther this time. There's a light shuffle and his voice is back on the phone. "Hey Val, I gotta go. The bus is here. I'll call you when I get back."

"Alright. Good luck! Love you." I say, knowing how he likes it when I tell him I love him first before he can.

"I love you too." he says right before he ends the call and just in time since I just finished eating- stopped eating is more like it which rarely happens as I have an appetite of a hungry gorilla most of the time. I just didn't seem to have an appetite right after I finished cooking.

I wash the plates and the glass I used before I leave for my appointment. It's still early, but I've got nothing to do here anyway, might as well leave now so I won't be late.

Because it's a Sunday, the usual traffic is nonexistent and I wish the road traffic is always like this. It'll make going to and from work a lot less dreadful.

The car park of the hospital is half full, and even with the many parking spaces available, most of the spaces near the entrance are taken so I park somewhere in between, but in a sweet spot under a tree. The sun's rays at this time isn't too hot, but I still like getting inside a shaded car better than a warm one.

I walk through the hallway until I find my doctor's office, and I'm surprised she's here already since I'm at least an hour early for my appointment. She looks just as surprised as I am seeing me here so early.

"You're early." She says with a warm smile, wrinkles forming at corner of her eyes as she does. She's around her mid-fifties, and seen way too many vaginas that'll put a proud womanizer to shame. "Why don't you come inside so we can get started."

***

She has been making a sound I can't decipher in the last five minutes she spent checking me and I can't tell if it's good or bad, but when doctors make the kind of sound I'm hearing, it's usually a bad sign.

"Is there anything wrong, Doc?" I ask in worry.

"When was the last time you had your period?" she asks instead of answering me.

"I'm not sure. Maybe two or three months ago." I shrug. I haven't really been keeping track of my periods ever since I switched to a different kind of pill that limits my periods to only a few times a year.

"And you're still on birth control?"

"Yes."

Her eyebrows furrow and meet in the middle, then she looks at me takes her glasses off. "I think you might be pregnant." she says and stands up to the counter where she pulls out a home pregnancy test box and hands it to me. "Let's do a test to make sure."