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Chapter 137

It took all of Claire’s willpower not to immediately dial her parents’ phone number when she and Jamie left the clinic, still reeling from the confirmation of a pregnancy.

But of course, once her feet had returned to the examining room floor, once she’d begun to comprehend the rest of the words that had come out of Dr. Nevin’s mouth, she had realized it was still too soon to start telling everyone. There was a possibility, the doctor had warned them, that when they did another ultrasound, they would find gestational sacs with nothing viable inside of them – a false pregnancy. Until they heard a heartbeat, there would be no guarantee that there was actually a baby growing inside her.

And so, on the way home, Claire and Jamie made the promise that until they heard the heartbeat, they wouldn’t tell their families, or anyone else.

But late that night, as she lay tossing and turning in bed next to her husband, still too keyed up over the idea of being pregnant to sleep, Claire remembered Nick. He’d seen the home pregnancy test; he knew that she and Jamie had been trying. Aside from Dr. Somers, her boss, whom she’d sworn to secrecy, Nick was the only one who did. He had a right to know how the test had come out, she decided, sitting up in bed. If the tables were turned, and it was Nick’s wife who might be pregnant, she would be curious too.

Checking to make sure Jamie was asleep, Claire climbed carefully out of bed and tiptoed out of the bedroom. Sitting alone in the quiet kitchen, she picked up her cell phone and sent a text message to Nick.

All it said was: Test was positive :)

***

It was hard to act as if nothing was going on the next day at work. Quite often, when she was not with a patient, Claire found herself smiling absently into space, her mind having wandered to baby showers and maternity clothes, a snuggly infant sniffling as she lovingly rocked its cries away.

Laureen knew something was up. She kept asking, “Are you okay? Are you sure there’s nothing going on?” and Claire knew she had been getting suspicious over the days of work she had missed lately.

But Claire forced herself to fib, remembering how she’d made Jamie promise to do the same, until they could both tell their families. “I’m fine,” she kept saying. “I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Technically, that was true, but still, she found it torturous to keep such big news from her friend.

On the other hand, she was starting to regret texting Nick the night before. She’d thought a text message would be the safest way to break the news, not only because it was late, but because she wasn’t sure how he would take it. He’d wished her well at the grocery store, but she couldn’t fathom him being as thrilled as she was if she had called him and gushed over the phone, “I’m pregnant!” Yet at the same time, she had thought it was only fair to tell him how her test results had come out.

But there had been no word back from Nick yet, no voicemails or text messages on her phone, nothing. She found herself checking between patients, and whenever she did, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, a feeling that was definitely not morning sickness. Maybe I shouldn’t have messaged him, she thought guiltily, afraid she might have rubbed salt into his wounds by telling him the “good” news.

But he had to find out sooner or later, another part of her argued. If I am going to have a baby, that’s just something he’ll have to deal with.

It was just like her dilemma over the wedding invitation; she didn’t know how to handle these things with him. On one hand, he was still her friend, and she wanted to involve him in her life; on the other, he was her ex, and she didn’t want to hurt him any worse than she already had.

Luckily, she didn’t have too much time to stress over Nick’s feelings that morning; her schedule was full, and the patients kept her mind off of him.

She was just cleaning up after her third appointment, preparing for her fourth, when someone knocked on the doorframe of her room. Startling, she looked up and saw Carey, the receptionist, standing in the doorframe with a smile on her face. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but a delivery came for you.”

Expecting a shipment of toothbrushes or fluoride, Claire was surprised when the other woman handed her a slender glass vase containing a single, long-stemmed yellow rose, which she’d been hiding behind her back.

Blinking in surprise, Claire took the rose and looked at it for a moment. It had clearly come from a florist’s shop, for there were sprigs of baby’s breath arranged professionally around the lush, yellow bloom, and a pale lavender ribbon had been tied in a bow around the top of the vase. Attached was a little card, but even before she turned it over, she knew who had sent it. And it wasn’t her husband.

The only one who had ever sent her yellow roses was Nick.

Trying not to blush and give it away, Claire smiled and said, “Aww, what a sweetheart! Thanks, Carey.”

“Looks like you found a keeper,” Carey winked before she turned and walked away.

Smiling to herself, Claire took the vase over to her counter and set it down. She gazed at the beautiful rose for another moment, admiring its simplicity, and then she turned over the card.

It was not signed; in fact, there was only one word on it. But she knew by the message that it had to be from him.

It read, simply, Congratulations :)

***

An hour later, Claire was getting ready to clock out for lunch when Carey found her again. “Hey, Claire, your one o’clock just called to cancel. I haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone on the waiting list, so Dr. Somers said to go ahead and take a long lunch.”

“Oh, really? Great, thanks, Carey,” replied Claire in surprise. Wondering what she was going to do for over an hour, she slid her timecard into the clock to punch out. As she pulled it back out, the idea hit her. She knew exactly what she should do in the next hour.

Sinking down into one of the chairs that were scattered around the break room, she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and pressed a couple of buttons. After a few rings, his familiar voice said, “Hello?”

“Hey, you,” she said, unable to suppress her smile. “I got your flowers.”

“Did you?” Nick asked.

“They’re beautiful. And sweet – thank you.”

“No problem.”

“So, what are you doing right now? Are you still in town?”

“Yeah, I’m here, and I’m not doing much. Why?”

“You wanna get lunch together? I’ve got a long break, and I wasn’t sure when you were leaving again or if I’d get to see you, so I thought-”

“Sure,” he interjected, “Lunch sounds great. You want me to pick you up, or meet you some place?”

“Umm, how about you meet me at… Leonardi’s?” she asked, naming the old standard, because it was the first place that popped into her mind.

“Shoulda known,” he replied, and she could picture him smiling. “Sure, that sounds good. Did you say right now?”

“As soon as you can. I’ve got about an hour-and-a-half, so…”

“Now’s fine. I’ll see you in a few.”

“Alright, great. See ya,” she said, and they hung up.

Just as she dropped her phone back into her purse and stood up, Laureen came bustling in. “Claire, there you are!” she exclaimed. “What’s this I hear about you getting flowers, huh?”

She raised her eyebrows, and Claire couldn’t help but smile. Most of the other hygienists assumed Jamie had sent the rose; they had been cooing over how sweet her husband was all morning. To Laureen, she shrugged. “I guess I just have a good man in my life,” she said simply.

But Laureen was not to be fooled. Giving Claire a sharp look, she came closer and lowered her voice, saying, “And just which man would that be, huh? I know who used to send you yellow roses…”

Claire’s smile grew, despite her efforts to hold it back. She was a terrible liar; her smile always gave her away. But as much as she wanted to tell Laureen everything, she couldn’t, not here and now. “Listen, can we talk about this later?” she asked, giving Laureen a meaningful look.

“Sure… how about over lunch?”

Claire cringed; she and Laureen almost always ate lunch together. She couldn’t go to lunch with Nick without inviting her, without even telling her he was in town. She know how much Laureen liked him. “Well, um… I’m supposed to be meeting someone… the certain someone who sent the rose,” she added, arching her eyebrow, “so if you want to come with…”

She had expected Laureen to jump at the chance, and, indeed, the other woman’s eyes went wide, but then she blushed and shook her head. “Thanks, but… that’s okay.”

“Are you sure?” asked Claire. Normally, she would have insisted, but this time, she was a little relieved. This way, she wouldn’t have to break her promise to Jamie by telling Laureen about the pregnancy too, though Laureen would probably find out soon anyway.

“I’m sure. I don’t want to impose on anything, and he… well, it would just be awkward,” said Laureen, her cheeks bright pink.

Suddenly, Claire understood Laureen’s reaction. She’d almost forgotten about how Laureen and Nick had spent the night of her wedding together; she hadn’t heard much more about it since the day Laureen had told her about their kiss. This led her to believe that Nick had never called, and that he and Laureen had had no contact since that night. And now he’d sent her flowers, and to Laureen, it probably looked like…

“Look, Laureen, it’s not like you think. At all. I promise,” Claire assured her, giving her another penetrating look. “How about we go get ice cream or something after work, and I’ll explain about the flowers and everything, okay?”

Deep creases appeared in Laureen’s freckled forehead as she frowned, looking perplexed. “Okay,” she agreed. “Have a good lunch.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later,” Claire promised.

As she headed out to her car, she knew that by the end of the day, Nick wouldn’t be the only one who knew she and Jamie were expecting. So much for trying to keep that promise…

***

At 12:15, Nick was sitting alone in the corner booth at Leonardi’s, waiting for Claire.

He hadn’t been surprised to hear from her today, not after he’d called the florist and had the rose delivered to her at work. He’d awoken with that idea; it had seemed the nice, mature thing to do, a way to let her know he was happy for her good news. Deep down, though, he wasn’t sure how he really felt about it.

Claire was pregnant. She and Jamie were going to have a baby. And somehow, that just made their marriage seem all the more real to Nick. They weren’t just a married couple now; they were starting a family. A child was a huge commitment, as well as a sign of their commitment to each other. It would bind the two of them together, stronger than ever, and the love he and Claire had once shared would be forever broken.

He had known this was his reality ever since he’d found out that Claire and Jamie were engaged. When he’d watched them exchange marriage vows, it had become even clearer. And now that they were going to bring a child into the world, it was glaringly obvious: Claire had moved on and wasn’t looking back. He would always be a friend to her, but nothing more, now that Jamie was her husband and the father of her unborn child.

Even though this had been coming for years, even though he had tried again and again to move on, it was still hard to accept. Every time he saw her, every time he heard her voice, every time he so much as thought about her, Nick realized he was still in love with her. At this point, he figured he always would be. But he had to find a way to move on, hopefully fall in love with someone else, because Claire was taken, and he wasn’t going to fight for her, not when it would mean breaking up her family.

The truth was, he did want to see her happy. She had been through a lot, and she deserved a happy life. And if having a baby with Jamie would give her that, then he had to be happy too, even though it hurt.

God, it hurt. It was a pain that never seemed to go away, the ache deep down inside him that rose into his throat when he saw her walking through the door of the shabby pizza parlor. In a moment of déjà vu, he saw her as she had looked on Valentine’s Day, four years ago, when she had met him here. That was the night his heart had opened up, as he’d seen the light for the first time and realized he loved her.

She looked slightly different now; she was older, and her hair was longer and styled differently, and there was a large silver ring on her left hand that had not been there four years ago. But she was still the Claire he had loved all this time, and as she walked towards him, smiling, he found his eyes traveling her body, the body he’d once held in his arms and caressed every inch of. There had been a time when he’d known her body almost as well as he knew his own, and though he realized it was too early, he searched it for the signs of pregnancy. His eyes lingered on her stomach, hidden beneath the loose top of her scrubs, and imagined it swollen with child, as it would be in a few months’ time.

It was hard for Nick to imagine.

“Hey!” said Claire, sliding into the other side of the booth. “Thanks for meeting me.”

“Anytime. I’m glad you asked,” he replied sincerely. “I’m heading back to LA in a few days, and I don’t know when I’ll be back again. Plus, it sounds like you’ll have a lot going on.”

She smiled, her cheeks turning rosy, and he thought he saw a hint of the “glow” that pregnant women supposedly had. “That’s why I asked. I wanted to see you before you go back – talking in the middle of the grocery store for five minutes doesn’t count,” she added with a laugh. “I’m sorry I haven’t kept in touch so well lately. I’ve just been so busy lately and had a lot on my mind. This IVF stuff takes a lot out of you, and I’ve only gone through one cycle of it. Some people have to go through many more than that, so I know I’m lucky.”

Nick nodded. “You are lucky,” he told her, thinking of how happy Kevin and Kristin were with their new baby son and how badly he wanted a family of his own someday. “And I understand. I’ve been really busy too with the album, so it’s all good.”

He lowered his voice as a waitress came to take their pizza order. They ordered their usual, with green peppers added to the top, at Claire’s request. When the waitress had taken their order to the kitchen and brought them their drinks, Claire returned their conversation to the topic of his album.

“I really am excited about hearing it,” she said, and he could tell she was being genuine. “Guess you made a fan of me after all, Carter.”

“What do you mean, after all?” he teased. “You were a closet fan all along, and don’t think I don’t know it. I seem to remember catching you listening to my last album in your hospital room…”

“Oh, yeah, yeah… psh.” She waved him off, but she was grinning. “I still rock the ‘Blow Your Mind’ when I vacuum the apartment sometimes. Pisses Jamie off to no end,” she giggled. “But hey, it’s gotten him to volunteer to run the vacuum himself sometimes. Now I need to start playing ‘Girls in the USA’ while I load the dishwasher…”

“Nice to know my songs are being used as torture devices for your husband,” Nick quipped sarcastically, but he added a good-natured smile. He couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not, but it was satisfyingly funny to imagine the look on Jamie’s face if she blasted his music at home.

“Oh, not all of them. He secretly likes that one… ‘Do I Have to Cry for You’? He’d never admit it, because you sing it, of course, but I swear he does. It’s sort of Bryan Adams-esque, and he loves Bryan Adams. Not that he’d ever admit that either, but if he doesn’t have two Bryan Adams CDs hidden behind the Stones albums on his shelves, you can call me Britney Spears.”

Nick cocked his head to the side. “Britney Spears just isn’t that hot anymore,” he mused. “Not since she started popping out the kids right and left like some kind of horny rabbit with her redneck husband.”

Claire made a face. “Nice visual, Nick, thanks. You think I’m gonna be any hotter after I get done popping them out?”

“Are you planning to pop them out like a rabbit?”

She snorted as she laughed. “Well, hopefully not like a rabbit, but that’s the thing about IVF… if you don’t watch it, you end up with a litter of children.”

Nick had a sudden vision of those septuplets that had been in the news all the time in the late nineties. He looked at Claire warily. “You’re not gonna have, like, seven babies at once, are you?”

“Not unless my embryos did some major splittage,” she laughed. “But I was implanted with three of them, so…”

“Three??” Nick repeated, his eyes widening with shock. “You’re having triplets?!”

She laughed. “I don’t know yet. It will be a couple of weeks until we know for sure how many of the embryos implanted successfully. It would be a surprise if all three did, but who knows… I could be having triplets. Isn’t that crazy??”

Nick gaped at her, trying to imagine how she’d look carrying three babies. His mother had had a hard enough time with Aaron and Angel, and they were her fourth pregnancy. “Wow…” was all he could muster.

“At this point, I’ll be happy with anything,” she said. “Jamie wants a big family, and I just want a family, period. So whether we end up with one or three or even more someday, I’ll feel blessed, as long as they’re happy and healthy. That’s all I can hope for.”

Nick nodded, smiling at the wistful look on her face as she spoke about having children. This was something she really wanted, he could tell. She always had. She’d gone through the steps to make this possible years ago, and it was finally happening for her. Though he wished it wasn’t happening with Jamie, he couldn’t help but feel happy for her.

He reached across the table to pat her arm, just as the waitress showed up with their pizza. “I hope so too,” he said quietly and then leaned back so the waitress could set the tray down.

They fell silent as they dug into the pizza, minds wandering as they chewed, but Nick couldn’t help but ask, between bites, “So… Bryan Adams, huh?”

Claire giggled through her mouthful of lemonade, nearly spraying it everywhere. Nick sat back, shielding his face warily, until she managed to swallow. Gasping, she said, “He does, I swear! Come over to the apartment sometime, and I’ll show you. He likes show tunes too. Some people thought he was gay in high school.”

Now it was Nick’s turn to nearly spit out his soda.

Before he could say anything, Claire gave him a look. “He’s not,” she said with a smirk, as if reading her mind. “Trust me, I know he likes women. Although… I guess you’ll just have to trust me, cause we both know my babies weren’t conceived the, uh, natural way.”

She giggled, and though Nick did not want to think about her and Jamie having sex, he appreciated her usual sense of humor about the situation. Playing along, he replied, “Yeah, for all I know, he’s a raging queer who just married you for your eggs and won’t even touch you cause he thinks he’ll get girl cooties.”

“That’s me – chock full of girl cooties,” she said, batting her eyelashes. “We women are nasty creatures, aren’t we?”

Nick shrugged. “You know what they say – anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn’t die…” He thought that was a line from South Park, though he couldn’t remember the rest of it.

Claire laughed. “Hey, lucky me, I got out of all that business and still ended up pregnant. Bless modern medicine,” she beamed, again making light of the blows life had dealt her. He missed that about her.

“Well, if your baby’s daddy won’t touch you, I can always be your fuck buddy,” he offered jokingly. Remembering something he had meant to tell her, he added quickly, “But just to warn you, you might have to fight off the competition…”

“Competition?” Claire raised an eyebrow with interest. “Who ya been fucking?”

“I have not been fucking anyone,” said Nick, lowering his voice so that the older couple dining two booths away would not overhear them. “But you remember when we met up at Stingray, when you were having your bachelorette thing?”

“Yeah?”

“You remember that chick I was with?”

“Yeah… curly blonde, right?”

“That’s the one. Well, I’d just met her there that night, bought her a couple drinks and everything. She seemed pretty cool, pretty normal… and she seemed like she into me, so I went with her back to her house…”

“She didn’t give you herpes, did you?”

Pausing, Nick gave the grinning Claire a look, trying hard to suppress his smirk. “No, she did not give me herpes,” he answered in a dignified voice. “But you’ll never guess what she turned out to be.”

“A prostitute?” Claire fired off her guess immediately. Before he could answer, she continued, “An undercover cop, posing as a prostitute?! You didn’t get busted, did you?? No, you’re famous; I’d have heard about it if you had…”

“Claire! No, she wasn’t a prostitute!” Nick managed to say through his laughter. “She was a… well… tell me, have you ever heard of a ‘devotee’??” The word made him shudder as it rolled off his tongue, and in a way, he couldn’t believe he was telling her this. He hadn’t told it to any of the guys; it was way too humiliating. AJ would have had a heyday with it. But somehow, telling Claire didn’t seem like a big deal. She would think it was funny, sure – and it was kind of funny now, in a sick and twisted sort of way – but she wouldn’t make him feel embarrassed about it. Besides, it wasn’t his fault. For once, he felt like he wasn’t the freak in the situation.

“A devotee?” she repeated, looking confused. “As in… one who is devoted… to something…?”

“To amputees,” Nick clarified, smiling gleefully at the way her expression changed. First, her eyes widened; then her features contorted into an expression of disgust.

“What?? You mean, she… she had some kind of… fetish, or something?”

Nick nodded grimly. “Uh-huh. Exactly.”

Claire made another face. “Gross,” she blurted, wrinkling her nose; then, suddenly, her eyes went wide again, and she sputtered quickly, “I mean, not that… well… not that having sex with an amputee is gross. You… you were amazing. I just meant, it’s just a little weird to… to seek that out, I guess...?” She trailed off, looking at him uncertainly, her cheeks bright pink. “Oh Jesus, Nick, I didn’t mean that the way it came out… open mouth, insert foot,” she muttered, slumping over the table, so that her forehead was resting in the palm of her hand.

Nick watched her in amusement for a moment, then cracked up. When she heard him laughing, she raised her head just enough to peek at him, still looking mortified. It hadn’t even occurred to Nick to be offended; he had known what she meant. Their relationship had been enough to prove to him that she didn’t think having sex with him was “gross.”

“You can take your foot out of your mouth,” he said easily. “I know what you meant. And I agree with you. I was totally freaked out; you shoulda seen me bolt from that place. I don’t think I’ve ever put my leg on that fast…”

Straightening up, Claire laughed, her eyes still wide. “Wow, she was a quick-mover then, huh? Got the leg off and everything? It took you months to take it off for me,” she teased, giving him a good-natured smile.

“Take it off, take it off…” Nick sang, then shuddered again. “Yeah, she asked me to as soon as I got inside. That’s when it started getting freaky…”

“So you didn’t… you didn’t have sex with her, did you?”

“Hell no!” Nick exclaimed, stiffening when he saw the older couple look his way. Lowering his voice again, he added, “No fucking way; as soon as I figured it out, I was outta there.”

Claire laughed. “Well, good. I don’t want you taken advantage of,” she said in a motherly voice, patting his arm. Returning to her normal tone of voice, she added, “God, that is funny, Nick. Sorry… but it is.”

“No, I know… it’s crazy,” he agreed, chuckling. “But yeah, I thought you’d get a kick out of it.”

She smiled. “Well, sorry you didn’t get any out of it. You really need to develop some better taste though… I mean, look at the kind of girls you attract. There’s Leah, who lied about her pregnancy so that you’d marry her. There’s that freaky chick. There’s… who am I missing?”

“Mandy, who used me to get a record deal and showed her appreciation by smacking me around? The bitch on tour who tried to steal all my shit?”

“What bitch on tour??”

“Eh, some bitch in… Denmark, I think? She was just some groupie,” Nick muttered, blushing a little as he remembered his groupie habit on the last tour. Claire wouldn’t think very highly of that. But what did she know; she was fucking Jamie. Well, he assumed she was, anyway. But maybe he really was gay…?

“Well, there you go,” said Claire matter-of-factly.

“Hey, I dated you, didn’t I?” Nick pointed out.

“Yeah, well…” Claire trailed off, looking slightly embarrassed, with an expression that said, And look what I did to you.

For a moment, awkward silence filled the table, as neither of them spoke.

Claire broke it again, when she asked, tentatively, “What about Laureen?”

Nick blinked in surprise. He’d been so busy out in LA the last few months, that he’d almost forgotten about Laureen… and the night they’d spent in the downstairs bedroom of his house on Claire’s wedding night. “Did she… did she tell you about…?”

“After the reception? Yeah,” Claire answered.

Nick cringed. “I’m so sorry I put her in that position. I got shit-faced, and she ended up having to take care of me, and… I don’t even know how it happened, but I think I ended up making out with her… I don’t think we got any further though, cause-”

“You passed out on her?” asked Claire, with a hint of a smirk. “That’s what she said.”

Nick felt sheepish. “I have no idea,” he confessed, “but that sounds about right. I don’t remember anything else.”

“Well, she says you didn’t take advantage of her. It takes two to tango – or in this case, make out – and she was the sober one. You think she would have been there if she didn’t want to be?”

He sighed. “I know, but… it’s just, she’s a fan, and-”

“She’s not just a fan,” said Claire. “She’s hung out with you personally, and I think that makes her more than just a fan. She knows the real you – or at least she wants to. She would, if you’d give her the chance. I think she really likes you, Nick. And she’s so genuinely sweet; I think you’d like her too if you just gave her a chance.”

“I do like her!” Nick insisted. “I mean, as a person… she’s really nice…”

“’Nice’ is the lamest word ever, Nick,” Claire chided him, giving him a look. “Okay, so maybe you don’t like her that way. But give her a chance; you don’t know her that well. You never know, maybe…”

“You’re trying to set me up with your friend, aren’t you?” said Nick, amused at the way this conversation had turned. He’d never even considered dating Laureen, but apparently Claire had… Maybe she and Laureen had been plotting this all along… Girls were shifty that way.

“I’m not setting you up,” Claire insisted, “I’m just… putting in a good word for her. And giving you a little friendly advice.”

Nick couldn’t help but smile. “Listen,” he said, “I’m gonna be so busy over the next few months, getting ready for the album to drop, that I’m not gonna have time to date anyone. But after that… maybe I’ll take your ‘friendly advice’ for a spin.”

“You do that,” Claire advised with a smile. “You just might yourself find a keeper.”

***

When she went back to work that afternoon, Claire felt as if, for once, everything was right in her world. She was married, with a baby (or maybe three) on the way, and for the first time since the wedding, she felt like she and Nick were okay. She was glad she had gone to lunch with him; their conversation had been the best they’d had with each other in months. She had missed talking to him, and even though he was heading back to California in a few days, she hoped they would be able to keep in touch better.

As she entered her cubicle to make sure that everything was set up for her next appointment, the yellow rose he had sent was the first thing to catch her eye. It made her smile, and kept her smiling as she worked throughout the afternoon, cleaning the teeth of three more people and assisting Dr. Somers with a cavity filling at the end of the day.

“We took a test yesterday,” she commented to the older dentist as he helped her clean up afterwards, just the two of them in the room. Dr. Somers looked up from his work, his expression questioning. Smiling pointedly, she added, “It was positive.”

He knew exactly what she was talking about and smiled broadly, crinkles forming around his eyes. “Congratulations, kiddo,” he told her, squeezing her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she beamed. “You can’t say anything to my dad though, not yet. We’re scheduled for an ultrasound and more tests next week, and we’re going to wait till we hear the heartbeat, then tell them.”

Dr. Somers, who was an old friend of her father and almost like a second dad to her, smiled understandingly. “Of course. My lips are sealed,” he promised, then added, “We’ll have to talk about a certain leave you’ll be taking.”

Grinning, Claire nodded. “We’ll talk,” she assured him.

When she finally went to clock out for the day, she found Laureen waiting for her in the break room. “Still up for ice cream?” Laureen asked expectantly.

After pizza with Nick, Claire still felt full, too full for ice cream even, but she knew it was time to talk to Laureen. Smiling, she replied, “Of course. Where do you feel like going?”

They debated the merits of ice cream places as they walked out of the office together. Finally agreeing to meet at Baskin Robbins, they headed to their separate cars.

Minutes later, Laureen’s burgundy Saturn was pulling into a parking space next to Claire’s yellow Beetle. “I’m getting two scoops for sure,” Laureen announced as they walked into the small ice cream shop. “My last two appointments were a set of twins, identical little girls, and one was just as bratty as the next. They would not open their mouths, either one of them; I had to practically pry their jaws open. And their mom was sitting right there and barely did anything about it! Ahhh!”

As Laureen growled in frustration, Claire chuckled knowingly. “Can you believe some parents? Don’t ever let me raise my kids to be obnoxious, okay? If you notice it happening, you have my permission to smack me.”

Laureen laughed lightly, but gave Claire a curious look. “Are you thinking of trying for some kids soon?” she asked. Her voice was tentative, as if she were afraid to ask. She knew about Claire’s infertility; they’d once had a conversation about it, for Laureen and her two brothers, a set of triplets, had been conceived using fertility drugs. “If you ever want someone to talk to, my mom could give you some advice,” Laureen had told her then. “If you can catch her while she’s sober, anyway.”

Claire had never spoken to Laureen’s mother, but she decided that if she was going to tell anyone else, besides Dr. Somers and Nick, about her big news before she broke it to her parents, Laureen would be the perfect one.

Flashing her friend a cryptic smile, Claire replied, “Let’s order, and then I’ll answer that question.”

Laureen’s eyes widened, her face brightening, and she nodded eagerly.

Later, as they sat at a small table tucked into the far back corner of the ice cream parlor, Claire told her everything: how she’d been missing work for IVF treatments, how she’d had three embryos transferred into her body two weeks ago, and how she’d found out she was pregnant just yesterday. By the time Laureen had finished stifling her squeals and trying to hug Claire across the table, her two-scoop sundae was half-melted, and Claire’s single-scoop cone had dripped all over her hand and the tabletop.

Trying to mop up the puddles of melted ice cream, Claire licked her fingers and said, “So yeah… that’s why Nick sent me flowers this morning, and that’s why we went out to lunch. He was the first one to know. I ran into him at the grocery store the other day, and I had a home pregnancy test in my cart, and he saw it, so naturally, he asked. I sent him a text message last night to let him know how the results came out, and the card on the flowers said ‘Congratulations.’”

“Awww!” Laureen cooed. “He’s so sweet…”

Claire smiled. “I know. I just wanted you to know, that’s all it was. There’s nothing going on, believe me.”

“‘That’s all?’” Laureen repeated, laughing. “Claire, that’s huge news!! It’s so exciting; of course you wanted to share it with him! But I get what you mean – thanks.”

Claire nodded. “And just so you know, Nick said he’s been so busy lately with his solo album that he hasn’t had a chance to date anyone… but your name came up, and I put in a good word for you, so maybe once the album’s out, and he’s back here for longer than a week, you guys could get together…”

Laureen’s eyes widened. “Really? Do you think there’s really a chance? I mean, he never even called or anything after that night, so…”

“There’s always a chance,” said Claire. “What Nick needs is a nice girl, someone normal and sweet, who will treat him right. He doesn’t always know how to pick them, but if he’d just get to know you…” She trailed off and shrugged. She didn’t want to give Laureen false hope, but at the same time, of course there was a chance. Nick had seen something in her; why not Laureen? They would be cute together, and Laureen would be good for Nick.

Beaming, Laureen exclaimed, “Of course I would treat him right! I would never want to hurt Nick; he’s been through enough.”

At this, Claire blushed, averting her eyes from Laureen’s. She felt the same way, which was why it killed her to know she had hurt Nick. She cleared her throat and took another hasty lick of her drippy ice cream. “Just promise me one thing,” she said, swallowing. “Don’t ask him to take his leg off the minute you get him into your apartment. It tends to freak him out.”

At the look on Laureen’s face, Claire burst out laughing.

***