“I know, I know. But it doesn’t look like that’s what’s up, so let’s just watch the show, OK?”
Cammy gave me one more playful suspicious look before turning back to the TV.
As the opening credits of the next episode began, the pain returned. This time it was worse, more insistent. I placed my hand on my stomach, a slight moan of pain slipping from me.
“Sade?” Cammy wasted no time grabbing the remote and hitting the pause button, the screen freezing on an image of Dwight and Pam in the middle of a back-and-forth. “You OK?”
The dull, throbbing pain was so intense that I couldn’t even answer her. All I could do was lean forward and bite down on my lower lip as it worked through my body.
“OK, it’s time to go and have you checked out. At least call the doctor.”
“It’s almost eleven. They’d just send me to the ER.”
“That’d be better than sitting here and letting you suffer while not knowing if you’re about to have these kids.”
“I doubt that’s it. I probably just need some Tums or—”
I didn’t even get a chance to finish. Another wave of pain rushed through me; this time so intense that the world seemed to blur at the edges. I winced, grabbing onto the table, and desperately hoping it would pass.
“Oh, man.” Cammy rushed to my side, putting her hand on my back. “Shoot, shoot, shoot.”
The pain felt like something big and mean rolling around in my belly, a bowling ball hitting the interior of my insides.
“Just breathe,” she said. “If the babies are coming then that’s a totally normal thing, remember? All you need to do is breathe and let the contraction do its thing.”
Contraction. Hearing the word made it all the more real, and as much as I’d wanted to pretend otherwise, I knew that was what was going on.
“Deep breaths, OK? Nothing to worry about – just deep, deep breaths.”
It was working. Cammy’s guidance helped me focus on my breathing, the panic subsiding. The pain lingered for a moment, but it wasn’t long before it faded, and the world came back to normal.
I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them. The pizza right in front of me seemed like the least appetizing thing in the world. Seeming to sense this, Cammy closed the lids on the boxes, then turned to me.
“OK. As I said, I don’t know if you’re going into labor or not. But there’s no way you’re going to convince me that we shouldn’tat leasttalk to a doctor about this.”
“The ER,” I said. “That’s the only thing to do.”
Cammy wore a thoughtful expression. “Not necessarily. What if I were to tell you that there was a really good OB/GYN, one of the best in the city, only ten minutes away? And he was on call twenty-four seven?”
“I’m confused. Who are you talking about?”
As soon as the words left my mouth, however, I realized the answer to my own question.
“Your dad?”
“Yeah!” She was jazzed up about the idea as if there weren’t a single problem with that suggestion.
As far as she knew, there wasn’t.
“Dad lives ten minutes away over in Cherry Creek. And he’s usually up this late reading or something. I swear, the man has never needed sleep; it’s kind of insane.”
A tinge of panic ran through me. “No-no-no. We don’t need to call your dad. The ER has plenty of doctors who can help.”
“Maybe so, but why go there when we’ve got one of the best just a phone call away? Plus, Dad loves you – no doubt he’ll jump at the chance to help.”
Her words made my heart sink. She had no idea of the way he’d “loved” me. Worse yet, neither did he. I hadn’t seen Noah since the night we’d spent together, not once over the last nine months.
Before I had the chance to give the matter more thought, however, a wave of fresh pain shot through me – this one worse than the last.