“Shit, Ava. You hold a mean grudge. But I’m telling you, you’re wrong this time. I knew what I was doing that day. I know what I’m doing now. We’re fixing this. You’re going to help me, because I care about her, because she’s carrying your niece or nephew, and she deserves much better from us.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. But I’m not apologizing for what I said. And this doesn’t mean I suddenly forgive her either.”
“Sure. Whatever.”
Ignoring her comment, I told her exactly what I needed her to do. Kate deserved so much better from my family and me. Hopefully once we ironed this out and I actually got to announce it to the rest of them, they would react a bright shade better than both my sister and me.
I could only hope this would work and that she would allow me to do all the things I should be doing.
5
Kate
Serving that evening was absolute hell. Quite frankly, those two months had been. Plastering my fake Southern belle smile on for everyone while a little bulge grew from my front side and the rest of me withered was agonizing. I wasn’t even super showing, just in an awkward phase between showing and maybe looking chubby. But the chubbiness wasn’t really there either.
Pregnancy was stealing so much of my sustenance; it made me so sick that I had to drag myself to the hospital when I was fifteen weeks, which was when they gave me shocking news. My severe nausea, rapid weight loss and dehydration were caused by a rare syndrome called hyperemesis gravidarum. They hooked me up with a Zofran pump that was supposed to stave off the nausea and I had to wear all day, every day. No one knew anything about it. No one knew I had to stick myself with the pump every single day. That I had to shower with the thing, amongst everything else.
I didn’t tell anyone at work about my predicament because I was afraid if Tim knew, he wouldn’t let me work. And I had to work. All the medical stuff adding up was freaking expensive, especially since I didn’t have insurance. With my situation, insurance was an impossibility. I paid for every single thing with cash. I even had to set up payments for my stay in the hospital. It was piling up.
I was barely making ends meet, yet I refused to find a new roommate after Ava left. I was pregnant. So much of my camouflaged life was at stake. There was no way I could risk dragging someone else into it, no matter how lonely and miserable I was. I couldn’t even drink my misery away. Life would have been pretty bleak if it weren’t for my little miracle.
Despite the horrendous syndrome I had, along with my awful habits those first eight weeks of being pregnant, the little life-sucker was healthy as could be, with the strongest heartbeat. It was the sweetest sound in my life. I had to do everything I could to make a bright future for the baby.
“You have a new table in six,” Brittany told me, having found me in the server station sucking down some Dr. Pepper, the only “meal” I could stomach. She gave me a bored stare as she chewed her gum like a horse chewing hay and twirled a strand of her blonde hair.
“Got it,” I said with a deep breath. When I poked my head out to see how many were at the table, I instantly jerked back. Why the hell is she at my table? I seriously considered asking Brittany to take it, especially since I knew I wasn’t going to get a good tip out of this. But she was sitting there by herself, chin resting in her palm, drumming her fingers on the table. So I bit the bullet and grabbed a fresh Dr. Pepper before strolling to her table.
I put the soda down in front of her, causing her skeptical gaze to jerk in my direction. “What are you doing here?” I demanded before she could say anything.
Lips pursed, Ava shrugged. “Well, I do work here. But I came to check on you… I guess.” The way she cringed made me question whether that was the truth of it.
“Will you be eating anything?”
“No.” She turned in her seat, grabbing a blue gift bag that had a letter-sized envelope sticking out of the top, and held it out to me. “I came to give you this. I figured you probably wouldn’t answer if I came to the apartment, so….”
I just stared at the gift, not taking it from her hand that was still extended. “What is it?”
“It’s from Kai.” She placed it at the end of the table, then crossed her arms over her chest with those pursed lips again. My pulse quickened at the mention of his name. He’d obviously told her, and she was not happy with the news. “You could have told me, you know. That you think it’s his.”
The way she worded that had my hackles rising. As if I was trying to hook her brother into something he wasn’t responsible for, even though he damn well was.
It took everything in me to plaster that fake fucking smile on my face rather than smack her across hers. “You don’t believe me, then?” I tilted my head, batting my lashes. The smile felt as if it’d morphed into more of a baring of teeth. Pregnancy was a hell of a thing in the hormones department.
“Well, come on, Kate. Do you think I didn’t notice how many guys you brought home?”
My face fell flat—I couldn’t even keep the smile in place. Everything, all my steam and gusto, was gone. “You know nothing of my life, Ava,”
