“Did you just get home?” he prompted.
She shook her head. “I was going to do the laundry tonight. Larry’s supposed to stay with me this weekend and I didn’t want to spend all the time doing chores.”
He nodded. “I guess you’ll want me to disappear.”
Chelsey felt her heart clench. Impulsively, she moved toward him and slipped her arms around his waist. “Of course not! I mean—if you don’t want to come, that’s another story and I completely understand if it would be uncomfortable for you.”
His expression lightened. “Maybe we can just play it by ear? It I hit it off with him, I’ll hang around. If not ….” He shrugged. “Maybe the three of us could do something together. Or if you decide you want some time with just of the two of you, that’s alright, too.”
Chelsey slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “You’re a wonderful man, Garryk Sinclair.”
He grinned at her. “You think so?”
“I do,” she said, smiling back at him. “Be careful on this thing. I’ll worry.”
“I worry,” he retorted wryly. “I’ll be careful. I’ve got to grab my bag. I’ll see you later tonight, baby.”
The reminder of what she’d found in the bag made her uneasy. “If you’ve got a little time, I’ll hang around until you have to leave,” she offered tentatively.
He shook his head. “If you’re doing laundry tonight, I’d rather you got it done and got back to the apartment before it gets much later. It’s Friday night. There’ll be drunks on the road.”
“You just keep that in mind for yourself.”
* * * *
Chelsey was tempted to leave the clothes at the laundry-mat and head for the nearest computer to look up the drug. She knew from experience, though, that one had to guard the machines. As she paced restlessly, waiting for the washers she’d appropriated to finish their cycles, however, she spotted a drug store across the street. Wondering if the pharmacist was still on duty, she checked the washing machines and calculated how much longer she had on the wash cycle.
Deciding she ought to be able to get the information she wanted and get back if the pharmacist wasn’t busy, she strode quickly to the door and went out, heading for the drugstore at a brisk walk. The store was nearly empty, she discovered, and the pharmacy at the back still well lit. Bracing herself, she headed that way and waited for the pharmacist to finish what he was doing and notice her.
“Can I help you?”
She hadn’t prepared a story, damn it! “I was just wondering if you could tell me what this is?” she asked hopefully.
He took the piece of paper and studied it. She couldn’t help but notice he looked a little uncomfortable. He cleared his throat, sent her a sharp look, and finally handed the paper back. “It’s a fertility drug.”
Shock suspended Chelsey’s thought processes for a handful of moments. She blinked at him, trying to get them going again. “Fertility?” she echoed.
He nodded. “For men.”
Her jaw went slack. Her mind scrambled around in another shocked circle. She felt her face heating. “You mean … uh … like when I guy can’t … uh ….”
“It isn’t for erectile dysfunction. It’s to build the sperm count.”
She felt perfectly blank. “It isn’t used for anything else?”
“No.”
Pivoting on her heel abruptly, Chelsey headed out of the store faster than she’d headed in. She reached the laundry-mat without any recollection of the trip from the store and looked around blankly, as if she’d been teleported. She might have stood like a statue longer except she saw someone unloading her washers. Surging forward abruptly, she confronted the woman.
“These are my things,” she said tightly.
“The washer stopped.”
“Well, if you’ll move I’ll unload it.”
The woman glared at her, but she backed off just far enough Chelsey could squeeze between her and the washers, throwing glances around to make certain nobody tried to sneak up and grab the washer before she could.
Her irritation held her until she’d loaded the clothes in the dryers. Shoving coins in to get them going, she wished she’d been in a better state of mind when she’d been going through her divorce and had had enough sense to demand custody of her washer and dryer. She missed them a lot more than any of the other things she’d lost—even the house.
When she’d finished inserting coins, she found a chair, checked it for nasty deposits and sat down when she saw it was relatively clean, staring at the tumbling clothes while she grappled with what she’d discovered.
Why would Garryk be taking something to build his sperm count up? Was he sterile? Was that why he hadn’t worried about using the condoms?
If he was sterile, she couldn’t be pregnant!
Should she be relieved?
Would fertility drugs work if a man was sterile, though?
Maybe he wasn’t sterile, just infertile?
That made more sense in one way, but she still didn’t understand why he’d take them when he wasn’t even married.
Planning ahead?
She considered that. She didn’t think Garryk had been any more inclined to plan ahead when he was a kid than any other teenager. They all thought they had forever and were invincible. Now—well he’d been working two jobs for a while from what she could tell. That was the MO of somebody with plans that they were willing to devote a lot of time and effort to, so she thought she could safely say he was definitely a planner now. And maybe he’d always had the inclination?
What was up with the fertility drugs, though? Did he think it would work like a male enhancement drug? Or help him with stamina?
His name had been on the bottle, though. A doctor wouldn’t have prescribed them without a reason—or explaining it. So that meant he actually needed them … or thought he did.
She frowned. She’d read somewhere in one of the studies always being conducted that men were as inclined as women to reach a time when they felt a ‘nesting’ urge. Garryk was twenty seven. Maybe he’d just decided it was time to settle down and have a family?
She might have been thrilled at the idea except Garryk had to know she wasn’t a very good candidate for that sort of plan. She was thirty four and she’d had her family. Larry was nearly grown.
She felt guilt swamp her the moment the thought congealed in her mind. Garryk hadn’t had his family. It wasn’t fair to expect him to give that up even if he was willing to.
And she didn’t know that he was. He’d seemed perfectly happy to settle in with her as if he meant to stay awhile, but how long would that last if she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, give him a baby when he clearly wanted a family?
Not long, she thought wryly, and he wouldn’t be happy even if he tried to make it work.
So—maybe he wouldn’t have a heart attack and die or take to his heels if it turned out that she was pregnant? She thought she might have a stroke, but would Garryk take it as badly as she’d feared he would?
It occurred to her pretty forcefully that she couldn’t count on that. He might not know exactly how old she was, but he had to have some idea and he also knew she’d only had one child. He’d probably assumed she was either too old to worry about or that she’d had her tubes tied, she thought unhappily. He might be very upset to find out he was wrong if he had plans already.
He’d worked so hard, too! God only knew how long he’d worked two jobs—just about worked himself to death—just to save up the money to start his family! And he’d never caught a break, poor baby! He’d had to fight every step of the way to try to make something of himself.
She couldn’t do that to him! She couldn’t bear to think that she’d ruined his plans when he’d worked so hard!
What was she going to do, though, if it turned out she was pregnant?
She knew the moment she considered abortion that she couldn’t do that. It made her hurt for it to have even crossed her mind. If she was pregnant, it was Garry
k’s baby and whether he wanted her to have his baby or not, he obviously wanted a baby if he was taking fertility drugs. What if it was just a fluke and the pills didn’t really work for him and he never got another chance? She’d never be able to forgive herself if she ‘disposed’ of his only child because it was inconvenient to her and she knew Garryk never would.
Beyond that, she loved Garryk. She’d tried really hard to convince herself that she was just very fond of him, and admired him, and thought he was cute and sexy, but all it had taken was considering for a moment how she would feel if anything happened to him and she knew exactly how she felt. She might be able to lie to Garryk, but she couldn’t lie to herself. She loved him with a sense desperation she’d never felt for Lawrence—as if the world would end without him. She couldn’t consider it. She just couldn’t. She didn’t know what in the hell she was going to do. She just hoped she was wrong and she didn’t have to figure that out.
She felt like kicking her ass all over the place that she hadn’t dashed down to a clinic and gotten birth control right away when she’d realized the danger. It was all very well to say she hadn’t actually expected him to come back for seconds, let alone thirds—or to hang around for any length of time, but the truth was she’d just been too damned busy making hay while the sun shone to give it another damned thought! And she was too old to behave so recklessly and excuse herself!
Chapter Twelve
Garryk noticed the note on the mirror the minute he stepped into the bathroom. It had occurred to him to wonder several times during the day if she’d grabbed a test on the way to work and used it there. Pleased to discover she obviously hadn’t and that he still had the chance to see the results himself, he proceeded to the shower and turned the water on to warm up, glancing at the note several times thoughtfully.
After a moment’s thought, it occurred to him that he might have misinterpreted the note. He didn’t think that was likely, but he didn’t see any sense in getting his hopes up for nothing. She was a teacher. She might’ve just left the note as a reminder that she had brought work home for the weekend. He didn’t think so, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility unless he could find a kit.
With that thought, he gathered his discarded clothes and opened the hamper. It was empty. Shrugging when he remembered she’d gone to do laundry earlier, he dropped the clothes in and looked around for another likely hiding place, wondering if he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion altogether. Maybe it wasn’t a reminder for herself for anything? Maybe it was a hint intended for him?
Frowning thoughtfully, he considered that for several moments and finally discarded it. Considering the look on her face when the idea had occurred to her, he doubted she’d had time to come to terms with it at all, and he didn’t think she would consider ‘sharing’ until she did.
On the hunt again, he checked the medicine cabinet—just in case she had decided to drop a broad hint. He wasn’t surprised when he didn’t find what he was looking for, though.
He closed the mirrored door again and leaned down to check the drawers of the cabinet and then the area beneath the plumbing—cleansers, no pregnancy test kit. He scanned the room but there were no shelves beyond those that held the linens.
He checked those thoroughly and frowned. Maybe he had misinterpreted the note, he thought, annoyed?
After a moment’s thought, he returned to the lavatory cabinet and crouched down to see if there was anything tucked under the pipes or behind the assortment of cleanser bottles. Finding nothing, he tried the drawers again, pulling them all the way out that time and searching beneath the things stored in them. He hit pay dirt in the back of the drawer where she kept her cosmetics.
Smiling to himself, he closed the drawer again and stepped into the shower. He’d left the water running long enough while he searched that there wasn’t a lot of hot water left. He rarely lingered anyway, but he almost regretted the thoughtlessness. He was wound up now. A longer hot shower might have relaxed him enough to help him sleep a little better.
Shrugging the thought off, he climbed out, dried off, and headed to bed.
He’d just climbed in beside her when it suddenly dawned on him that Chelsey had done the laundry—and he’d found clothes piled on top of his bag when he’d come in to collect it. It had unnerved him at the time to discover he’d left the bag open. He’d dismissed any possibility that she might have found the bottle of pills he’d left so carelessly exposed for discovery because the clothes looked undisturbed, but it occurred to him forcefully that she might not have wanted him to know if she had. She might not have left it as he found it because she didn’t notice, but because she did, and she didn’t want him to know she had!
“Shit!” he mouthed under his breath, tensing all over while he struggled to decide what she would’ve thought if she had noticed.
He doubted she would know what that particular drug was for—but she might jump to the conclusion that he had a drug problem, and that sure as hell wasn’t any comfort! And that didn’t rule out the possibility that she’d checked the name and discovered what it was prescribed for.
It was almost more dismaying, he discovered, to think she might have concluded that he had a virility problem as it was to think she might have figured out why he was taking something to boost his sperm count. Actually, he was positive that possibility was a lot more disturbing. That sure as fuck hadn’t occurred to him before! Then again, he had to consider her perspective. It wasn’t nearly as likely, he decided, that she’d leap to the conclusion that he was underhanded enough to stack the odds in his favor as it was to conclude he had a ‘problem’. Her mind didn’t work that way.
Well fuck! He didn’t like that possibility worth a damn! It pissed him off so thoroughly, in fact, that he had a hell of a time going to sleep at all. For the better part of an hour he struggled with the urge to wake her up and show her just how god damned virile he was. He might’ve given in to it if it hadn’t also occurred to him that he wouldn’t be proving a damned thing if she had found the medication and jumped to the conclusion he thought she might have.
He was still pissed off when he finally fell asleep trying to convince himself that he’d dreamed up the entire scenario and she hadn’t discovered his stash at all.
* * * *
Chelsey had left herself a mental note just before she fell asleep that the next day was Saturday and she could sleep late. Unfortunately, she’d also been worried about forgetting to take the test again and the confrontation she’d planned with Lawrence and as soon as she began to skate toward awareness both those thoughts began circulating in her brain and made it impossible to reclaim sleep. Groaning inwardly, she fought it for a little while and finally gave up. It took her several more minutes to extricate herself from Garryk, but although she’d given up trying to keep from waking him when she’d discovered what a light sleeper he was, she particularly didn’t want him roused enough to wonder why she was taking so much time in the bathroom and she was more careful than usual.
Sighing with relief when she’d finally disentangled herself and he hadn’t so much as grunted, she got out of bed, grabbed her wrist watch, and headed into the bathroom. She was fully prepared this time, by damn!
As soon as she’d locked the door, she dug the kit out of the drawer and sat down on the edge of the tub to go over the instructions again. She hadn’t wanted to take any chances of screwing up again and she’d read them fully, and carefully, the night before, but she wanted a refresher before she got started, just to be on the safe side.
She’d already plopped down on the toilet with the test in her hand when it occurred to her that she hadn’t turned on any faucets to keep from arousing Garryk’s suspicions if he had roused enough to notice she’d gotten up. Leaping up, she turned the faucet on. When she’d settled again, she carefully positioned the test strip and let her fly. Removing it from the flow after a moment, she examined the strip carefully, decided she’d hit it, and set it carefully on the vanity, checkin
g the time.
She kept glancing at the watch and then the test while she brushed her teeth, but it didn’t take her nearly as long to perform that task as she’d thought it would. Frowning, she turned the faucet off and sat down on the lid of the toilet, staring at the watch, watching the second hand tick the seconds off.
It was amazing how slowly time passed when one was actually watching it, she thought irritably! Getting up after a minute, she moved to the shower to turn the water on, debating whether to actually get in or not. She hated to waste the water, though.
She checked the watch again when the water temperature stabilized and climbed in a little reluctantly, leaving the curtain open so that she could glance at her watch. She’d just lathered her hair up when she glanced at the watch again and saw it was time.
Scrambling out of the shower, she snatched the test up and stared at it. Her mind went perfectly blank when she saw it was positive. She couldn’t seem to take it in. She kept staring at the little window, expecting it to change.
A shiver finally recalled her to the fact that she was making a soapy puddle in the middle of the bathroom floor. She looked down at the water around her feet uncomprehendingly and then set the test down and climbed back in the shower, running on automatic since her brain seemed to have shut down.
Garryk’s eyes popped open the minute he heard the bathroom door shut. He pushed himself up, propping on one elbow to listen intently to the faint sounds emanating from the bathroom. His heart leapt unaccountably and began to hammer in his ears when he heard the faint scraping that told him she’d slowly pulled the drawer out, further impeding his efforts to figure out what was going on by the sounds.
The temptation to join her in the bathroom when he heard the shower come on was nearly irresistible. He toyed with the idea for a few moments, but the scenario that popped into his mind didn’t encourage him to try it. Better to go with the original plan, he decided—wait until she disposed of it and try to get his hands on it.
The Visitor: Alien Hunger Special Edition Page 15
