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I had just had a fucking baby.

Carter wasn’t even six months yet.

I was just getting my body back. Just getting my sleep back. Just getting back outside. Just started fucking with Keith again.

And now this?

“Nope.”

I stood up.

“Absolutely the fuck not.”

I was supposed to be getting dressed for us to go food shopping, but apparently I was about to be getting dressed to go to my fucking OB-GYN instead.

I grabbed my phone.

I’d been going to Dr. Loud since I was about nineteen. Annuals, birth control, pregnancy, postpartum—all of it. I knew everybody in that damn office.

I called.

“Dr. Loud’s office.”

“Hey, Rochelle. It’s Avery Hart.”

“Oh, hey, Avery. What’s going on, girl?”

“I wanted to come in for a checkup.”

“Girl, you just had your annual screening. You ain’t due for⁠—”

“I’m pregnant, Rochelle, and I don’t want it.”

Silence.

Then her whole tone changed.

“Okay. Got you.”

I closed my eyes.

“Can I come today?”

“With the holiday, we’re packed, and Dr. Loud already left for vacation.”

“Fuck.”

“You know how far along you are?”

“Shit, I don’t know. I’m just now realizing I didn’t get my period.”

“Okay, so you might be fairly early. When Dr. Loud gets back, I can get you in. I’ll put a message through to him too. But you know there’s always Planned Parenthood if you don’t want to wait for him.”

“Yeah, I’m not going somewhere I don’t know when I’ve been seeing Dr. Loud since I was nineteen. I’ll wait for him.”

“Okay. Just don’t wait too long to figure out how far along you are.”

“I won’t. Thanks, Rochelle.”