“Not with me. Sit down. You’re looking peaked.”
“I’m fine. I just want to get back to work.”
“Piper.” Miranda didn’t often pull out the trauma surgeon voice, but when she did, everyone was inclined to listen.
Piper sat, crossing her arms in defense of...she had no idea what. “I’m telling you, I’m not contagious.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Great. We’re agreed. Why are we back here?”
“I don’t think you’ve had the stomach flu.”
“Excuse me, I’ve been puking my guts up for five days.”
“Gastroenteritis doesn’t tend to last that long. The strain that’s been running rampant around here lasts forty-eight hours. And it’s highly contagious. There’s no way Myles wouldn’t have caught it if that’s what you had.”
“So I had some other strain. What does it matter?”
Miranda continued, hazel eyes level on Piper’s. “A stomach virus isn’t going to result in your being able to smell evidence of a patient who was here nearly twenty-four hours ago. One who definitely wasn’t smoking in the waiting room.”
Feeling mulish, Piper scowled. “I’m telling you, there’s something out there. The rest of you have stuffed up sinuses.”
“You’re overlooking the obvious diagnosis here.” Miranda watched her, a faintly amused expression on her face that made Piper feel like the class idiot.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Honey, when was your last period?”
Piper blinked, taken aback by the question. “I don’t know. I’d have to look at a calendar. But I’m not pregnant, Miranda. I’m on birth control.”
“So say members of the one percent all the time.”
“I can’t possibly be pregnant. I’ve only been married for three weeks.”
And I should have started right when we got back from our honeymoon.
The blood drained out of her head. “I can’t be pregnant,” she whispered.
“We can find out for sure and put your mind at ease.”
“Not here. If I do it here, everyone will know. If I am, I can’t risk it getting back to Myles before I have a chance to talk to him.”
And say what exactly? Hey, I know we went into this with an exit strategy in mind, and we talked about it being real, but guess what? Things just got complicated.
“Not something you two have discussed?”
“I don’t even know if he wants kids.” She thought of him with Preston. Surely he wanted them. Someday, at least.
“Be right back.” Miranda disappeared, coming back a minute later with two boxes in her hand. Pregnancy tests. “Take these. Go home. If anybody asks, you’re still not quite up to being back at work. Find out for certain before you start flipping out.”
Numb, she slid them into her pocket. “Thanks.”
“I’m here if you need me.”
Somehow, Piper made it out the door and all the way home without giving in to the panic. Myles had taken her advice and gone on to the office. For once, she was grateful he wasn’t home. No reason he should be witness to the imminent freak out that would turn out to be over nothing. Because there was no way she could be pregnant.
But half an hour later, two identical positives proved her wrong.