I woke up thinking about how bummed Sophia was about not being able to go to the beach in Tartosa. I mean, I was too, but it seemed to hit her especially hard. No one else I knew loved the water more than her—not even Yasmine, who declared herself a “water baby.” I got a brilliant idea in the shower that was sure to make Sophia happy and presented it to her at breakfast.
“Let’s go to the lake in San Sequoia. We can invite my dad and Alessia and make a family day of it.”
Her eyes were as bright as Winterfest lights, and I gave myself a pat on the back.
“Yeeees, that’s a great idea! Wait, your sister is still here?”
“Yeah. Apparently she’s not going back. She wasn’t as happy over there as she thought she’d be.” I snorted at a new thought. “Plus, she probably met some loser here.”
“Luca!”
“What? She’s not exactly in the market for quality men right now.”
“Still. You haven’t met him yet and already labeled him a loser. It isn’t nice.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Stop!”
I chuckled and reached for the phone to inform Dad about my plan, but he advised against it. A thunderstorm plagued the area, so once again, the weather dashed our beach plans. But Dad countered and suggested a family movie day instead, so we all braved the storm and headed to Anchorpoint Wharf.
I thought the movie was funny, but Sophia said it bored her, which surprised me, seeing as she was the token goofball of the two of us.
After the movie, we hung out at Dad’s house for a bit. Alessia caught us up in her life, and just as I suspected, she had met someone; I knew her so well. Apparently, they met at our party. They were at the bar and noticed they were both doing the exact same thing. She had this weird ritual she did in restaurants where she wiped down glasses, utensils, plates, and whatever her mouth or food touched. He was doing it too, and they locked eyes. The way she talked about this dude was different. Usually she didn’t care to get to know the poor fellas on this roster, and we never got any details about them. But her tone was so giddy it intrigued me. Could he be the one to break down her wall? I knew my dad hoped so. He really wanted to walk her down the aisle.
I realized we hadn’t heard from Sophia in a while, so I turned around to check on her. She had droopy eyes and a frown, and everything inside me wanted to panic. But she wouldn’t want me to do that in front of them. When I found an appropriate place to make our exit, I took it and ushered her and the dogs back home. Once we made it inside, we settled in the office to talk. It seemed like all our important talks occurred in there recently.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Are you feeling alright? What can I do??”
She shifted in her seat and looked everywhere except in my eyes, alarming me even more.
“I, umm… I’m concerned.”
“About Alessia?”
“About getting pregnant.”
My throat tightened, and I swallowed a few times to keep it open.
“Oh…”
Her confession lingered in the air like steam after a shower, and I wasn’t sure what to say or do.
“I’ve taken a pregnancy test every day since the engagement,” she said, still not making eye contact with me. “I know these things take time, but… It should have happened by now! My birthday is way too close, Luca. I’m running out of time.”
I was in such a weird spot. I wanted to hold her and tell her to keep the faith, but this was bad news for me, too. She wasn’t the only one looking forward to bringing a baby into the world. But it was her body going through that, not mine. And as much as it hurt to hear that, I still had a level of detachment she didn’t have.
“Is there something we can do?” I asked. “I mean…is there…a test or something for that?”
Finally, she looked at me as if awakening from a trance.
“Yeah, actually. There is.” She shook away those sad feelings and sprang into action. “I’ll make an appointment right now. I guess I’ve been too flustered to think straight. I could have done this days ago.”
She called her doctor and scheduled an appointment for the next afternoon. When she hung up, I finally embraced her like I wanted to and told her everything would be okay. I didn’t know how true that was, but I had to believe it for the both of us.
