Page 3 of Penn

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Can you just run the card?”

I don’t mean to sound so harsh, but she managed to pull a memory I’ve had locked away for years back to the surface, and I need to get out of here. If I don’t, I’m going to start a fight just for the hell of it, and I respect Nancy too much to risk getting on her bad side.

Dixie runs the card and brings it back with the slip to sign. I match the tip to the total and take off. I’m not good company now, and I don’t need to show her anything deep considering she has no desire to fuck me.

Even then, I don’t think I’ll give her that information.

Chapter 2

Dixie

The plastic feels heavy in my hand considering it probably weighs less than a candy bar. Sitting on the closed toilet lid, I avoid looking at the display until the timer on my phone goes off. Like they say, a watched pot never boils. Same with a watched pregnancy test.

The bathroom in my condo is small, and I take in the scent of my vanilla bodywash and damp towels I need to throw in the washer before I leave for work. Which is in about fifteen minutes.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I silence the timer and attempt to take a long, deep breath. No matter what happens, it’s what’s meant to be. Stephen and I have talked about starting a family and moving in together. I love him, and he loves me. So, if this test is positive, it’s a good thing. And if it’s negative, that’s okay, too.

The hammering of my heart in my chest makes it hard to take a full breath, but I do my best. Looking down, I gasp.

Two pink lines.

Bold. Bright. Undeniable.

Tears fill my eyes as a mix of emotions wash over me. “I’m pregnant.”

The timing isn’t ideal. We haven’t officially moved in together, and we haven’t made solid plans, but we’ll have to now. The big future we promised each other will become a reality sooner than later.

But there’s a small twinge of sadness that fills me. I’ve been here before. When I was seventeen, I had this exact same moment, only I wasn’t with someone who will support me and see this through. At that age, I could barely afford to feed myself, and some days I didn’t. I knew I couldn’t raise a child let alone grow a healthy one.

There was only one choice.

It was the right decision for the situation and where I was in my life, but I have always thought about the child I almost had. It almost feels wrong to be excited this time.

Setting the test on the edge of the sink, I stand, my legs shaky. I’m allowed to be happy. I’m in a different place in life, and I have a wonderful boyfriend who will be just as excited as I am.

I just wish I could call and tell my mom.

I know what she’d say, and I don’t want to hear it. Not to mention that I’d have to call a psychiatric hospital to give her the news. Not that I can blame her. Daddy drove her insane.

The sounds of sirens still bring me right back to the exact spot I stood as they passed by, ready to put out the flames. Daddy couldn’t keep his pants zipped, and he thought his lies would override the smell of cheap perfume clinging to his clothes every night. I think that’s honestly what drove Mom insane. The gaslighting.

No pun intended.

Because one night, Mom snapped. I remember following her into the garage after Daddy came home smelling like the new neighbor’s perfume. She grabbed the red gas can Daddy kept for the lawn mower, and she stormed down the sidewalk. I just stood there as she dumped the liquid all over the open convertible’s seats and interior.

Daddy came running out, shouting at her, and asking if she was crazy. I remember the look of pure defiance in her eyes as she lit the match and tossed it into the open car. It’s the first and only time Mom ever did anything like that to Daddy, and the car went up in flames. Daddy had to run and pull her back as the fire grew, moving us both to the other side of the garage as sirens blared to put out the flames before the car exploded.

The cops arrested Mom that night, and she went to prison for three years. I remember her being put in the back of that cop car, and the blank expression on her face. Daddy had finally succeeded. He’d driven Mom mad. And she paid the consequences of his actions.

That’s the day I swore I’d never be with a man who so much as looked at another woman like he wanted to take her home. The one thing Daddy taught me was that once a cheater, always a cheater. And I refuse to ever be with one. Screw up once, and there is no second chance.

Thankfully, Stephen isn’t like Daddy. Or the other guys I’ve been with. He’s sweet, attentive, and he loves me. He has a good job—even if he has to travel a lot for it—and he’ll be a fantastic father.

I can’t wait to tell him the news, but I have to work first. He’ll be stopping by when I get off, and then I imagine we’ll spend the night making love and dreaming of our future. The end of my shift can’t come soon enough.