“Oh, I didn’t say…”
“You also don’t have any allergies or hereditary diseases…”
“Wait, what? How do you know that?”
She smiled cheekily.
“Your mom is a real talker. It wasn’t hard. Get her started on her family and she’ll talk your head off. Normally, I guess people don’t really listen that intently. But I did. I pretty much got your whole medical history.”
“Uhm…”
I could feel myself blushing. And her next battery of questions made it even worse.
“You don’t have any STDs, have you? Have you had many sexual partners? Would you get checked for me?”
I felt my cheeks burn as they went red as tomatoes. Liz sat still and seemed to actually wait for my response, so I couldn’t just laugh it off either.
“Ehm… no… well, I’ve…”
She was still waiting. Patiently. Her face looking genuinely curious, in need of an answer.
“I’ve had sex some times… Just with one person. She…”
“Irina, right? Your girlfriend for… how long?”
“Yeah, we were together for about three years. We went to the same university for a while, but then she moved. That’s when we broke up. So…”
“You’re perfect. You’re the same blood type as Ted, you both have dark hair and… well, I’ve checked all the things. Earlobes, chins, all sorts of things that people use to check ancestry. When I get pregnant, I’ll tell him that it’s his. We already have sex every time I’m ovulating, so it’s not like the math won’t add up… It would take a genetics test to…”
“What if he gets one of those?”
“Why would he? He’s so full of himself that the very idea of the kid not being his would be a huge hit to his ego. And even if he did find out…”
At this point, she stopped, snorting derisively.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I care anymore. I want… I want this so much! I want a baby! And my man, he… he’s not getting the job done. I’m not getting any younger either…”
“Come on, you’re what, thirty?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“And you look really hot.”
She smiled at me. She jokingly threw her hair back in a seductive manner and adjusted the way she was sitting, as if she was showing off her attributes to a prospective partner. I just became even more flustered.
“I mean… you look really good. Uh… young, I mean. Uhh… fuck, I’m saying all the wrong things…”
“No, you’re saying it right… thanks. It feels good to know that men find me attractive. But still… I feel like I’m on the clock here. I really don’t have many years left to make this happen. I feel like if it isn’t done soon, it’ll never happen. And I… I can’t accept that. Ted doesn’t seem to feel the same way. He seems resigned to just keep trying… and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. Would you believe he actually said that? To my face! It’s like he doesn’t care one way or the other! And this is what I want more than… more than anything. Just hearing him say those words, that it might not happen… made me feel sick inside. I just went to bed and cried for two hours.”
This was obviously painful for her. I could see her trying to hold back her tears, as if the memories of past arguments and fights were coming back to haunt her. I just sat there for a while, looking at her beautiful pale face, freckles scattered across her cheeks. In the end, she turned to look at me.
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