Bear My Babies

Thomas wasn’t certain he would have asked Hilary out if Bruce hadn’t picked the exact time to show up in Melissa’s office. He had been crazy for Hilary the moment he met her, but he knew it was just for fun. When Melissa came along and agreed to carry his child, suddenly fun didn’t seem so appealing.

“The treatments are hell. They make me sick to be honest. My body is getting used to the daily ones, but there are two I need once a week, and on that day, I’m super tired.” Melissa’s tone came out clinical. Her eyes were darting around the room, no longer making eye contact with him.

Thomas blinked, surprised by the way Melissa turned on him. They were having a good time laughing and joking. In the past three minutes she had checked her phone five times.

“Am I boring you?” he joked as she went for her phone for the sixth time.

“Should we schedule the conception day, now? I promised Tilly I would meet her for drinks tonight and it’s getting late. I don’t want her to bail on me when I took the time to get dressed to go out with her tonight.”

He had a feeling she was just saying that, but if she wanted to go, there was no reason for him to try and stop her.

“Do you actually know when an ideal date would be yet based on the treatments?” he asked her leaning back in his seat.

“Not necessarily.”

“Then we’ll have to wait to pick a date then.”

“I suppose we could do tentative.” She pulled out a thick black notebook from her bag and flipped to a month. It was currently August and she’d turned to November.

“That long huh?” He stared at the page.

“Yes, we need to give the treatments at least that long to get into my system. I think the first weekend of November will work for me, how about you?”

She’d gotten colder and was speaking to him as more of a professional than a friend or future lover. She’d said a month and now she was pushing it way further away. Part of him knew she was just mad about Hilary, but he’d hoped they could get started a lot sooner.

“I’ll pencil you in,” he said with a wink, although even that small joke felt wrong.

They decided to call it an evening and he walked with her quietly back to his car. The driver was listening to some loud music and started when they got in. He was probably surprised they were back so soon.

“So November is the time then.”

“Yes, I’m sorry I acted weird just now. We’re going to have to get used to each of us dating other people, you know.” She smiled and this time it was genuine.

He felt a little more relaxed. “Yes, we are. It’s okay. I shouldn’t have dropped my date into conversation like that.”

When they pulled up outside of Melissa’s apartment, she started to say something. She looked over and saw a truck sitting on the street and her face fell. “Well crap.”

Thomas had a bad feeling as they got out of the car and walked together across the street.