She wondered if she should wait until Geoff was here. Perhaps he would feel that he deserved to find out at the same time she did. But then, he was the one who had abruptly pulled away. She didn’t even have a telephone number for him. And she couldn’t wait any longer.
She had the test in her hands and had just turned toward the bathroom when the doorbell rang. After a moment of paralysis, she stuffed the box beneath a cushion on the couch and moved toward the door. There were only two people she could think of who might be on the other side. Her brother. Or Geoff.
She opened the door. “Geoff.”
His expression was hard to read. There seemed to be a sense of…resolve about him that she didn’t quite understand. Was he here to tell her once and for all that it was over between them? “Come in.”
“You look very comfortable,” he said as he closed the door behind him.
“I wasn’t expecting company.”
“I should have called you. I’ve only been in town for a short while. I came here straight from the airport.”
“Then you must be hungry. Would you like me to make you a sandwich? A bowl of soup? I haven’t eaten myself, actually.” She sounded nervous, she thought. Even to her own ears, her voice seemed an octave higher than normal.
“Anything sounds good. While we eat, we can talk. I have a few things I want to discuss with you.”
Which was almost as frightening a prospect as taking the pregnancy test, she mused. “Have a seat. I’ll see what I have on hand for dinner. And then we can talk.”
She wasn’t gone long. When she returned after only a couple of minutes to ask him whether he preferred chicken noodle or tomato soup, she found him sitting on the couch with the pregnancy test in his hands.
He looked up when she came to an abrupt stop just inside the doorway. “You choose odd places to store these things.”
She twisted her fingers in front of her. “I, um, was holding it when the doorbell rang. Since I didn’t know who it was…”
The rest seemed self-explanatory.
“Were you going to take this test tonight?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t wait any longer.”
His expression was even harder to read now than it had been before. “I see.”
“It’s probably going to be negative, of course. It’s highly unlikely that I conceived so quickly. I’m prepared for that, but I would like to know for certain.”
He nodded. “So how long does it take to get an answer?”
“Just a few minutes.”
“Oh.”
Now they were both staring at the box. Cecilia abruptly held out her hand. “Let’s get this over with. I’ll be right back.”
“You’re going to take it now?”
She answered on a sudden surge of confidence, “Yes. It’s probably best if we know the results before we have that talk you came here for, don’t you think?”
Geoff hesitated, and then he nodded. “Maybe it would be better to know the results before we talk.”
With her heart in her throat, Cecilia turned toward the bedroom.
Ten minutes later they stood outside her bathroom door, staring at each other as the minutes counted down.
“Nerve-racking, isn’t it?” Geoff asked, his mouth tilting into a weak semblance of his usual smile.
“You could say that again.”
“I know you’re hoping for a positive sign.”