The Truth About Air & Water (Truth in Lies #2) (52 page)

“Awesome! Girls are the best. I’m not selling the house. I’ve just stayed focused on getting back here.”

“Right. Oh and congratulations on making it all the way back to the majors. Marla told me? Quite a feat. The Giants are lucky to have you; it’s high time they made good on that with you.”

“Yes, it is. Thanks.”

“You deserve it.
Really
.”

“Well, thanks. That means a lot especially coming from you.”

He is giddy if a guy can actually be described as giddy.

I am giddy back to him, which is like a fucking miracle.

The home line is ringing I frantically gesture to Marla to answer it and hear her say, “Dr. Eldon. Yeah, she’s on her cell with Linc. Yes. He’s coming home. Made it back to the majors. Well no, not exactly.”

“Tally? Are you there?” Linc asks gently.

“Oh I’m sorry, yes, Marla is answering the home line. Dr. Eldon’s calling and I’m spacing out.
Again.
” I laugh a little as if that will make up for it. “Wow. Okay. You’re on your way. That’s great. We’ll see you in a few. I’ll get Cara’s overnight stuff packed up. She’s going to be thrilled to see you.”

“Hey, Tally?”

“Yes?”

He sighs deep. “The nuclear war is over by the way. There’s been a peace treaty signed, sealed, and about to be delivered. I’m not sure you heard me say that just now, but it’s true.” He laughs.

I’m enchanted with his sound and it momentarily stops my brain from functioning. “Uh…A peace treaty? I did not hear you say that. No. Are there terms I should know about?”

“Yes. I’ll go over them with you when I see you.”

“Funny. Okay then,” I say with the weirdest laugh ever. It’s a cross between a monkey and a human girl. Marla’s waving her arms all over the place gesturing that I need to come and talk to Dr. Eldon like right the fuck now. In fact, she’s mouthing those very words to me. “Linc, I’ve got to go. Marla is freaking out about something.”

“All right. I’ll see you soon,” Linc says.

“Okay. Then,” I say ending the call. I stare at the phone a few seconds wondering what the terms are for this peace treaty but then Marla is practically ripping the land-line phone cord out of the wall to reach me with it. “What is going on with you, girlfriend? He just declared the nuclear war is over and there’s a peace treaty, and he’s going to go over the terms with me. What does that
even
mean?” I ask while the biggest smile ever recorded attacks my face.

“You need to take this call like right the fuck now.” Marla gets this crazed look.

“Language,”
I say with a laugh and grab the receiver. “Hi. It’s Tally here, Dr. Eldon. What’s going on?”

“Tally. Oh, I’m so glad you’re there.” She sounds out of breath like she’s half laughing or half crying.

“Dr. Eldon, is everything okay?”

“I’m supposed to be a professional about all of this but I just can’t help it. I’m just so happy for you.”

She’s giddy too. What is going on with everyone, today?

“What’s going on, Dr. Eldon?”

“Your test results are back. Tally…are you sitting down? Go sit down.”

I walk over to the kitchen dinette and slide on in on the bench side. “Now, I am,” I say impatiently. “There, I’m sitting. What’s up, Dr. Eldon? You’re freaking me out.”

I hear her sigh big. “Okay, I decided to run a complete work-up on all your blood work, including hCG levels—”

“Okay,” I grin at Marla assuring her I’m fine. “Whatever hCG levels are. Fine. Are they good?”

“Yes, Tally. They’re good. They’re
high
. They’re high because you’re pregnant.”

“What did you just say?” I ask.

“Tally, you’re pregnant. Of course, I didn’t think to do the physical exam today which would tell us so much more, but I did have the lab run the levels and they confirmed it
twice
for me. I don’t know why I’m getting so emotional about all of this,” she says. “I’m just so happy for you. Gosh, can you tell me when your last period was or even the last time you had sexual intercourse?”

Doctors say sexual intercourse like the rest of us say,
Wonder Bread
.

It’s funny and weird. It causes me to laugh and it takes a few seconds to recover. “Um. That would have been about two months ago. May 14th? Is this really happening? I thought you said that I couldn’t get…that this wouldn’t happen.” My heart begins to race. I grip the table. Marla slides in across from me and grabs my hand and squeezes it tight.

“I know. I didn’t want to get your hopes up. It’s just so devastating to go through all the steps and not get pregnant. The thing is I’m not ready to call this a high-risk pregnancy, but we need to be on top of this and take all the necessary precautions until I’ve done an ultrasound. You carried Cara to full-term less two weeks. But I’m not really keen on your dancing past twelve weeks if that, for one. Obviously, you have a few weeks before you need to let your director know, but not much more than that.”

“A few weeks?” I ask faintly.

“Well, based on paper calculations with the date of May 14th, I’d say you’re about nine weeks. We need to do the ultrasound to get the exact due date, but right now I’d put it around mid-February.”

“Like Valentine’s Day?”

“Around that. Plus or minus a few days.”

Marla is dancing around the kitchen.

I think I want to smack her.

“And there’s absolutely no way I can give you authorization to go to Moscow knowing you’re pregnant until I’ve done an ultrasound. Frankly, I’m not crazy about you traveling out of the country right now. But look, I’m actually going to be at the Alamo Square office, and I put you down for nine tomorrow morning. Can you make it? That way we can just confirm everything looks good and we can both stop worrying.”

Words.

Need some words here.

Words would be good about now.

“Tally?” Dr. Eldon says.

“Sorry. I’m…just…I’m beyond stunned. Sure. I guess…Tomorrow. I’ll make it work. Thank you for fitting me. So, we’ll know more tomorrow.”

“Well, we know quite enough today. You’re pregnant. Around nine weeks. Congratulations. I know how much you wanted this.”

“Yes. For some time. That’s all we wanted. Now?” I take a shaky breath. “I don’t know. It’s overwhelming to say the least.”

“It’s early,” she consoles. “Just go about your normal routine. No alcohol. Watch the shellfish. Exercise is fine. So is sex. The usual stuff you’ve been doing. I’ll go over it all tomorrow. It’s all good. We’ll do an ultrasound, an exam, and get the due date nailed down and then we can go from there. Maybe we can even talk about the trip to Moscow. I know we’re cutting it close with your travel plans, but we’ll know more tomorrow. It’s just amazing news and I’m so happy for you. Congratulations.”

“Right. Okay. Thank you so much…I think. Thanks for calling me and everything.” I hang up the phone and stare over at Marla who is happy crying and just waiting. “Oh. My. God.”

“You’re pregnant,” she says without hesitation. “I put it together at the restaurant but I didn’t want to freak you out. This is beyond amazing.”

Marla’s already tapping away on her iPhone. Dr. Eldon might be able to wait until tomorrow for an official due date but my bestie won’t be waiting.

“What do you mean you figured it out at the restaurant?”

“The tuna sandwich for breakfast? The hamburger you finished at lunch? Ring a bell? It should. You ate the weirdest stuff when you were pregnant with Cara. Plus, the way you look all blissed out is the biggest clue of all,” Marla says sounding like Velma on Scooby-Doo putting all the clues together and solving the case. She holds up her phone in triumph. “February 16th. You’re like nine weeks already. The first trimester is almost over, baby.”

“No way,” I say gasping for air.

“Yes way. Come on.” She grabs my hand pulls me up. “We’ll run our own tests. Just to convince you.”

Marla and I race up the stairs because she knows I have pregnancy tests here and in our minds this all needs to be confirmed by First Response. We like theirs the best because the label is easy to read and it’s two minutes faster than the next leading brand. Marla watches me from the bathroom doorway. We have thrown protocol out the window and I’m shaking from head to toe and trying to pee on a stick while she looks on with this wide smile. My hand is now soaked with urine and I don’t even care. I hold it over the sink and we lean over it together as the plus sign comes up in the test window in a matter of sixty seconds.

“Oh my God. This cannot not be happening,” I say to the mirror and my best friend.

“Double negative,” we say together.

“Oh but it is and the timing is epic, as in, ever,” Marla says looking blissed out herself.

I place the stick on the sink and tear into another test box. I have like twenty of them because there was a time I was obsessed with getting pregnant and Linc was all too willing help me out. I’m peeing on stick and my hand again. It’s harder this time because the adrenaline has kicked in at full-warp speed, and I can barely concentrate.

And if that isn’t enough I hear a distinct guy’s voice calling from downstairs. I descend quickly to Linda Blair exorcist mode. “Do not tell him. Go get him outside. I’ll pack up Cara’s clothes. Are you
listening
to me?”

I’m possessed. I’m yelling at Marla and watching the stick turn with a plus sign all over again. I set that test down on the sink next to the first one.

“This is insane.” I call out to Marla as I grab the soap and wash my hands.

I’ve managed to go all over my yoga pants, so on top of everything else, now I’m stepping into the shower for a quick rinse. Thirty seconds later wrapping a towel myself and thirty seconds after that I’m racing through my dresser drawers looking for underwear of any kind and jumping into those, then pulling on a T-shirt and jamming my legs into a pair of black jeans only to discover they are tight as I zip them up, which is completely ridiculous but explains just about everything surreal about this day.

Suddenly, out of breath, I sink to the floor and tell myself not to cry, and this is how Marla finds me—in the middle of the master bedroom floor in tight jeans that still kind of fit and a black T-shirt that is actually turned inside out, plus I’m not wearing a bra of any kind.

“Let’s start over,” she says eying my outfit with notable fashion sense disapproval.

“They’re tight. Already. How is that even possible?” I ask bewildered and losing control all at once.

“It’s might be possible. I started showing early and you’re tiny. It’s happening.” I look at her with a raised eyebrow. “He’s outside pushing Cara on a swing and checking out the kiddie pool. I told him you were on a call with Mikhail.”

“That’s good. That’s good. Good job.”

“Tally, I’ve bought you about six minutes of time to pack up Cara’s things and get yourself dressed in something else or at least turn the T-shirt right side out before he’s going to wonder what the hell is going on.”

“How does he look?”

She grins. “He looks like he just got sent up from the Grizzlies to the Giants, which would make anyone’s day, but I’m pretty sure your news will send him over the moon.”

“No moon.” I still sit on the floor.

Marla comes over and sits down directly across from me. We grab each other hands like yogis do.

“You have to tell him. It’s his baby. Don’t even try to deny it with me. I can’t even believe I’m hearing this. You have been wallowing around here for
months.”
I hold up two fingers. She ignores me.
“Turning your life upside down for the silliest of reasons all in the name of some weird-ass insanity you call
clarified
and the rest of us just label
plain crazy
. So, all you’re going to do is forgive the man and get on with it.”

“It’s not that simple.” I shake my head side-to-side

“Oh yes. Oh yes, it is. And if you don’t tell him,
I will.
I’ve had it. I won’t allow this. I heard all about your nuclear behavior in Fresno from over two months ago. I saw it all on TMZ and then it just got worse from there. You
cannot
do this to him. Or yourself. You just can’t.”

“Pick a
side
, Marla.”

“I just did.” She gets up somewhat awkwardly, glares back at me which I return full force, and just stalks off.

I’m slow to get up because the jeans are tight.
Like uncomfortably tight. Like too tight. Shit.
I hold onto the doorway and fight off being dizzy and grope the walls as I make my way down the hallway toward Marla’s retreating back. “Marla, you cannot interfere in my life this way. You cannot! It’s not fair. I won’t allow it.”

She whirls around. “No! Too many times I’ve stood by you and watched as you allowed all the best opportunities pass you by. Grow up, Tally. No one gets a free pass. No one! Yes, you’ve had it rough. It’s been downright tragic at times, but even Holly would side with me on this. She would. Gah! The voice of reason has always been Holly. Are you listening to her? Can you hear her? She’s screaming at you right now. Tell him. Tell him. Tell him. Do you hear her? Because I sure as hell can.”