Chapter 30
Lana anxiously sat in the waiting room of her doctor's office a few days later, wondering what he wanted to discuss with her. She'd already passed the exam a week earlier with all but flying colors; there weren't even any lasting effects from the smoke inhalation she'd suffered in that hotel fire.
"Come on, come on," she muttered. "My appointment was supposed to be eleven and Paul will be shitting razor blades if I show up late."
"Miss Moss?" a nurse called out several minutes later. "Come on back."
Finally, Lana thought. Whatever this is, let's get this over with so I can get on with life.
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Brian looked around. "Where's your better-looking half?" he asked jokingly.
"At the doctor," Paul replied. "Apparently, she wasn't supposed to be there long, but she just called and said they were running behind."
"Why is she back there? Didn't she just go the other day?" Kim wondered.
"Yeah, but I guess something came up and they wanted to see her again."
"Jesus, PL, what are you feeding that woman to make her barf so much?" Brian inquired.
"Very funny, dude. Hell, she hasn't even eaten that much the last few weeks to begin with."
"Maybe that's why she's sick. Got to love and feed them, dude, if they're going to live and be healthy."
"What the fuck do you think I have been doing since she got out of the hospital after the fire?" Paul asked. "It's not my fault she barfs a lung every ten minutes at least most of each day."
"This coming from the king of homo jokes. Since when do you have the corner market knowledge on women anyway?" Kim asked, looking up from her laptop.
"I can be smart," Brian said with a whine. "And I already have The Creature From the Black Lagoon working for me."
"Oh, that's flattering, dude," Paul said, "and you wonder why you can't stay in a relationship?"
"Don't mind that, PL," Kim nodded. "I've gotten immune to it after a while. So did Lana say when she'd be in?"
"Supposed to come straight from the doctor's office. She's felt better the last couple of days anyway."
"That's good. I guess whatever she has might finally be getting out of her system."
"I sure hope so, Kimbo, because this is all worrying the shit out of me."
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"So how do you plan to proceed from here?" Denise asked.
"I have no idea," Lana said, raking a hand through her hair. "I thought..you know..being careful."
"You know, you won't have much time, Lana. This isn't going to be something you can hide forever."
"I know. Then there's dealing with the resulting issue when I do drop this bomb. I'm not even sure either of us are ready for this."
"In any event, you're going to have to say something sooner or later."
"I know," Lana replied. "Right now, I'm just confused. I have all of these emotions of being excited and terrified at the same time. Maybe I should go to a meeting tonight and get some insight on figuring all of this out before I do anything."
"That may not be a bad idea. Just clear your head and be rational before you make any decisions. You've come along so well in your recovery, the last thing you need is a snap decision to foul it up."
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"So what do you call couples that use the rhythm method?" Brian joked around after practice that afternoon.
"Do humor us," Kim rolled her eyes. "Never mind I heard that joke in junior high school."
"Parents," Cricket spoke up, finishing the joke's tag line.
"Thanks a fucking bunch, Cricket."
"Well, you asked, Tweedle Dumb," Kim replied.
"So what brought all that on anyway?" Cricket wondered.
"I was just thinking," Brian replied, "about all the shit of Red being sick."
"Oh my God, he really does think!" Kim cried teasingly. "Put this in the books!"
"Will you cut the jokes for a second? I'm trying to get some serious shit out here."
"And you start off with a joke that's been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth? This should be fascinating."
"Anyway," Cricket cut in, "what's your theory?"
"Not to be crude, but I have a gut feeling that PL's timing was off at least one time before he pulled out."
"For the love of Christ, Brian!" Kim cried.
"What?I'm just getting a theory out there."
"More like you've been watching too much porn again."
"Honest to God, think about it; they've been shacking up for awhile now, doing who the fuck knows what before that, and Red's been puking her head off for the last three or four weeks. I may have barely graduated from high school, but it isn't brain surgery to figure out what the hell is going on here."
"Oh….my…..God," Cricket replied. "If you're right about this, Paul is going to have a stroke."
"You're telling me."
"Wow," Kim said. "I am speechless."
"Nowthere's something that should go in the record books," Brian responded.
"Now who's the one clowning around?" Kim asked, quirking an eyebrow. "But you really think that is what is going on?"
"Only one way to find out," he said. "I saw Red go talk to Denise. Perhaps I can intercept her on the way out. I'm taking one for the team before she encounters PL's wrath. Wish me luck."