Way to go, Skye. Being a bad influence starting at eight o’clock in the morning wasn’t my usual MO, but today I felt rebellious.
After the first bite, I grimaced. Something about the cream was off. It wasn’t sour or anything, it just tasted different. I didn’t like it.
“Everything okay, Skye?” Joe asked.
“I usually love vanilla puffs,” I muttered. “My taste buds are all over the place lately.”
The lady next to me chuckled. “When I was pregnant with my first one, I couldn’t even look at tomatoes, and I love tomatoes.”
I froze, looking between Joe and the customer. “I’m not pregnant,” I said. My stomach bottomed out at the same time as a knot formed in my throat.
“Oh, it’s the only thing that occurred to me. Taste bud change happens a lot during pregnancy.” She shrugged, heading back out on the street.
“I’ll bring you another one, Skye. Maybe something’s not right with this one.”
“No, that’s okay. Just a sign that I should start my morning with healthy snacks.” Grabbing the rest of my order, I left the bakery.
I couldn’t get that lady’s words out of my head as Tess and I set our breakfast on the counter as usual. My heart was still in my throat. It was impossible to swallow anything. This wasn’t possible. I took the pill religiously at the same hour every evening, as the instructions said.
Just to double-check, I got out the container. There were exactly as many pills as there should have been. I hadn’t missed any... but I still hadn’t gotten my period.
“Skye?” Tess asked. “You okay?”
“I’m still late,” I said, biting my lower lip. “And I’m worried that....”
I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
Tess straightened up, running a hand through her hair. “Think you might be pregnant?”
Ah, of course Tess would ask me straight up, no punches pulled.
“I can’t be though.” My voice was strangled. “Just looked at the pill container. All gone. I didn’t miss any.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Skye
Tess bit her lip. “It can still happen, I think. If you take it at different hours.”
“I didn’t. I have a reminder on my phone.”
“Some medicine can also influence its effectiveness.”
“Like cold medicine?”
Tess nodded. I sat on the couch, trying to remember if I’d taken anything for a cold recently, but I couldn’t. My hands were a little jittery. I grabbed the counter to steady them.
Tess was about to sit next to me, but a customer walked in right then.
I jumped right to my feet, thankful for the distraction.
“Hi! What can we do for you?”
“I loved a bra you had two collections ago. It had something like a stone between the cups.”
“The one
where the bra straps resembled feathers?” I asked.