The Newcomer (Thunder Point #2)(84)

“It was closer than usual. And my period didn’t come. Rumor has it, those suckers can swim!”

Landon died on the spot. She was going to have to give him mouth-to-mouth and pound on his chest. He could feel all the color drain from his face. Then he felt his face get hot. “Huh?” he said so eloquently.

“I’m late. Five days. Or so. I’m never late, Landon. Never.”

He knew this. He was not allowed to get her worked up at period time—she felt insecure about it. He, on the other hand, thought that might be the best time of the month if there was an accident, based on what he’d read.

“What are we supposed to do now?” he asked.

“I need a test. One of those pregnancy tests. But I can’t just go buy one at the grocery store or drugstore where everyone knows me. And I can’t borrow the car to leave town—my dad’s working. If he saw me, he’d kill me for sure.”

“I’ll take you. Where should we go?”

“I’d like to go to the moon right now, but maybe Bandon’s far enough away. Will you really take me?”

“Sure. Of course,” he said.

“Then I’m going to have to stop in a bathroom somewhere—like a gas station or something. I can’t take a pregnancy test home! Lou has the nose of a drug dog.”

“We can come right back here. Sarah’s sitting alert tonight.”

“But what if she sees it in the trash?”

“I’m the trash man, Eve. I guarantee you, Sarah has never looked in the trash because I toss Ham’s yard apples in there, too. And I always have it done before she gets home from work so there’s nothing to complain about. Now, how’d you get over here?”

“I borrowed Aunt Lou’s van. But I promised her I’d be less than an hour.”

“Let’s take it back to the house and drop it off. You tell your aunt we’re running into Bandon to the sporting goods store. I want to look at running shoes—we’ll start football practice in a couple of months and I want to get ahead of it. And you want to pick up some wax for your board.”

She smiled. “I think that should work,” she said a bit tremulously.

“Stop worrying. It’s going to be fine. It would be more fine if they sold pregnancy tests at the sporting goods store. But we’re going to take care of this.”

* * *

Landon thought he’d been pretty smooth when Eve brought him this problem, but in fact his insides were trembling like a five-year-old on the high diving board. They didn’t talk much on the way to Bandon. Every once in a while he grabbed her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. He tried very hard to be cool.

He went in the store with her, but left her to do the shopping by herself. He pressed a twenty into her hand and said, “Don’t just buy the cheapest one.” And then he went to the paperback and magazine section for ten minutes and left, empty-handed. He met her back in his little truck and all the way home, she read him the directions.

“What if it’s too early?” she asked.

“It says it’s not. But if it’s negative and your period still doesn’t come, we’ll get another one next week,” he said. “Look, we don’t have that many choices. And I really don’t think you’re pregnant. I don’t.”

When they got to his house, she immediately headed for the bathroom with her package and Landon paced. Then she came out with a big grin on her face. “Was it a no?” he asked.

“I didn’t have to take it,” she said. “I just got you know what.”

And Landon fell flat on his back on the living room floor. “Holy crap!”

She laughed at him and knelt down beside him. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have panicked.”

“Eve, we gotta get ahead of this. You have to talk to Aunt Lou.”

“Oh, I’m scared to.”

“Then I’m not going near you! We’re not making out one more time because we both get a little crazy and one of these days... I love you like mad, but I want to be a little older before I start a family. I don’t want one thin layer of latex between us and the next generation. And you shouldn’t, either!” He pushed some of her pretty dark hair over an ear. “I’d like to be with you forever, but I don’t know what you’re going to want in a year or two. I don’t want to have a baby at seventeen.”

“We need to cool it down,” she said.

“We can do that, too—whatever you want, but we can’t get this scared again,” he answered. “I’m willing to—”

The back door opened suddenly and Sarah popped in. Landon’s school books were still covering the kitchen table and he was cuddled up with Eve on the living room floor. “Oh, hi, Eve,” she said. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I forgot my e-reader and didn’t have a book with me,” she said, passing through the living room on her way to her bedroom. She turned back to them and smiled. “I’m not going to sit up watching TV all night with the guys—I’m in the middle of a good book.” And then she darted into her bedroom.

And then she darted out, e-reader in hand. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat—I grabbed an hour to run down here and get this, but I have to get right back.”

And then she walked into the bathroom, shutting the door.