Pelican's Landing

Chapter Eight

Annie barely made it to the toilet before she threw up. She held her stomach with both hands, waiting for the churning to pass.

“What the hell is wrong with me?”

It was the third day in a row where she’d been nauseous. Something she ate? But why was it only in the morning?

As she knelt beside the toilet, her eyes widened.

“Oh, dear God…no,” she whispered. “Please no.”

Before that thought could sink in, she vomited again. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, then rubbed her forehead. Okay, yes, she was late. Her period should have been last week. Maybe even the week before that, she thought. But the stress of Matt’s death, the funeral, finals, starting a new job as office manager…all of that contributed to her being late. Surely.

“Oh, dear God,” she murmured again.

She sat down, her back against the wall as she reached out to flush the toilet. “I can’t be pregnant. I just can’t be.”

Can I?

She panicked. Should she call her mother? God, no. What about Suzanne? Definitely no.

She leaned her head against the wall. Should she call Jordan? She closed her eyes. No.

“Do the sensible thing, Annie. You pee on a stick and pray it’s not positive.”

She got up on shaky legs and stumbled back into her bedroom. Both of her parents were already at work, thankfully. And Jordan didn’t expect her in until noon. She’d drive to Aransas Pass. No way could she buy a pregnancy test here in Rockport. Her mother would know about it before she even had a chance to pee on the damn thing.

* * *

Jordan glanced into the office, expecting to find Annie in there. It was after twelve and she was never late. She went to the fridge and took out the two sandwiches. As had been the norm for the last two weeks, on the days when Annie came in at noon, Jordan had Subway for their lunch.

Maybe it was because Annie was closer in age to her than anyone else, but she felt completely at ease around her. The others…not so much. Jessica was scared of her, she knew. And Staci, while friendly, never had much to say. Brandon was talkative and actually kind of playful, but still, he was all of twenty-three. The two new high school students they’d hired only worked weekends for now. They still had another week of school before they’d start coming in during the week.

She took the sandwiches into the office. The chair was pushed back so she knew Annie had been there. Today they were going to tackle the summer inventory. It should have been done a week ago.

She went back outside, frowning. Where the hell was Annie? She was about to go back into the office to wait for her when she heard a thud coming from the bathroom. She walked closer to the door, listening. Silence. She glanced down, seeing a light on inside. It had to be Annie. Well, she’d give her some privacy. She turned to walk away. That was, until she heard another thud against the door. It sounded almost as if someone—Annie—was slowly banging their head against the door.

She raised her hand to knock, then paused. Then she knocked anyway.

“Annie? You okay?” She thought she heard crying and reached for the doorknob. It was locked. “Annie?”

She heard the lock turn and quickly opened the door. She was shocked to find Annie crying.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Annie met her eyes. “Oh, God…it’s blue.”

Jordan frowned. “Blue? What?”

Annie held up a plastic stick as tears streamed down her face. “It’s…it’s freaking blue.”

Jordan didn’t understand and took the stick from her. She looked at it, then back at Annie. “Pregnancy test?”

Annie nodded.

“And blue…is not good, I take it?”

Annie shook her head. “It’s so not good. I’m pregnant.” She met Jordan’s gaze. “Jesus God, I’m pregnant,” she sobbed.

Jordan didn’t know what to do, so she opened her arms and Annie fell into them, sinking against her, her sobs coming harder now. Jordan folded her up, holding her tight.

“It’ll be okay,” she murmured.

“No. No, it won’t,” Annie mumbled against her chest. “It won’t be okay.”