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“Okay, so what is it?” I ask, and she starts to sob so hard her body shakes.
“Anna, you’re scaring me.” I lead her over to the couch and take a seat next to her. “What happened?”
“Nothing happened, or something happened, but it wasn’t Kolter. I mean, it was him, but he didn’t do anything wrong. I did,” she chokes out, and I frown, not understanding what she is trying to say.
“You’re not making any sense right now.” I lean forward and grab the box of Kleenex from the coffee table and pass a few to her.
“I’m so stupid.” She blows her nose.
“How are you stupid?” I rub her back as she stares at her hands.
“I totally missed my appointment a month ago for my birth control, and I planned to reschedule it, but I didn’t, and I forgot about rescheduling it, and now I’m—”
“Pregnant.” I cut her off, finally deciphering what she is trying to say.
“Yes.” She cries, covering her face with her hands. “And Kolter is going to be so mad.”
“He’s not going to be mad.”
“Yes, he is. We’ve talked about having a family one day, but we’ve also had the conversation about me being on birth control more than once because neither of us wanted that someday to be anytime soon. And it was on me to make sure that I was keeping up to date on my prescription, and I didn’t do that, and now. . .” She shakes her head, her breaths coming in short rough pants that honestly scare the hell out of me. “And now . . . and now here I am pregnant, and I should not be pregnant.”
“Anna, Kolter might be surprised by the news that you guys are going to have a baby, but I have seen you guys together, and my brother is obviously disgustingly in love with you. It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do,” I tell her gently, and her face crumples.
“I just love him so much, and I don’t want this to be something that comes between us.”
“I know you love him.” I pull her into a hug. “And I also know that this isn’t going to come between you two. You two will be okay.”
“I can’t believe this, Evvie.”
“Me either. I’m going to be an aunt. Do you know how cool that is?” I smile at the thought. “I hope it’s a girl so that I can spoil her with clothes and shoes and trips to the mall.”
“I don’t know that I’m ready for someone to be excited about this.”
“Sorry, I’ll tuck my excitement away until you’re ready for it.” I give her another hug. “But seriously, it’s going to be okay, Anna.”
“I’m not ready to be a mom.”
“I’m sure you’re not.” I give her a sympathetic smile “But I also don’t think that the people who think they are ready to be parents are actually ready.”
“That’s true.” She wipes her face.
“When are you going to tell Kolter?”
“I don’t know. I just took the test this morning after realizing that I haven’t had a period in over a month. I called my doctor, and they gave me an appointment for this afternoon.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“Will you?”
“Of course. What time is the appointment?”
She looks at the clock. “In an hour.”
“All right.” I hand her a few more tissues. “Wipe up the tears, go wash your face, and get yourself together so that we can go.”
