"Hell if I know," Sherry answered. "But I swear, I never missed a day!"
Steve put his hands on her forearms and looked her in the eye. "I believe you. But how sure are you? How do you know?"
Sherry opened her desk drawer and held out a pregnancy test. He could see the plus sign. "Okay, you took a test." He paused for a moment, smiled and said, "If this were a sitcom, I'd make a joke about it being the only one you ever passed. Anyway, you used one of the major brands, and I hear they're pretty accurate."
"I made a doctor's appointment Friday morning to find out for sure."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"Only if you want to. You don't have to. Their test takes longer than the home version."
Steve laughed as he repeated, "Home version." He pretended to read the cover of a game. "'Knock Me Up or Put Me Down?' Based on the smash Fox hit!"
"At least I know you're good on the fastest-finger questions," Sherry said wryly.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Steve asked indignantly.
"It means you know lots of ways to pleasure me," she assured him.
"Oh, I thought it was a masturbation joke." Then he got serious. "I wanna go with you. I just hope I don't give away why I'm there. I mean, I'm there for the same reason as most of the other guys, but-"
"Chances are no one'll know you're my brother, and I'll let you know if they do."
It was a little before noon. In the waiting room, Steve had caught up with his favorite websites and had gone back to his Facebook feed so he could read the articles that people linked to. He had just closed a Snopes article debunking the latest rumor about the President when Sherry put her hand on his shoulder. "Well?" he asked.
"When we're outside," she said.
Once they were around the corner from the door to her doctor's office, Sherry said, "I'm pregnant."
Steve put his arms around her, kissed her and practically jumped in the air. Although he'd made no attempt to conceal his feelings, he did keep his voice down. "I love you, Sherry."
Sherry kissed him back and told him, "I love you, too, Rabbit," but she sounded like she was trying to conceal her feelings.
"What's wrong?"
"It's weird. I was hoping I wasn't pregnant, but I'm happy you're happy about it."
Steve let go and they started walking. "So what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know yet."
"Well, do you want to have it?"
"I do, except-"
"What?"
"Okay, no matter what it sounds like I'm saying, remember I love you."
They were close to his car. He opened the doors with the remote fob and held the passenger door open for her. "I know you do, Sherry."
Once they were both in the car, Sherry explained. "You're the only reason I'm not sure about having it. Not because I don't love you, but because I'm afraid of what'll happen if they know it's yours."
Steve started the car and headed for home. "They who?"
Sherry was crying. "Take your pick. Mom and Dad. The police. Baldmoor University. I don't know a lot about Title IX, but they might not be allowed to let you enroll, 'cause technically, you're a sex offender. I mean, so am I, but we both know I'm just going through the motions at college."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't take criminal justice just for the fun of it," Sherry explained. "Aren't you switching to Baldmoor 'cause they have a good CJ department?"
"You're right, of course," Steve said. Then he asked, "So if I hadn't balked at taking the pictures, and you'd showed 'em to Adam, and
he'd/
knocked you up, you'd be planning on being fatter than the turkey come November?"
"Yeah. Probably not keeping it, but following through."
Steve sounded unhappy at the first part of her answer. "Oh," he said.
Sherry picked up on his tone. "I told you, remember I love you. I said I probably wouldn't keep it if it were Adam's, 'cause I'm assuming it wouldn't have worked out with him. You I love!"
"Well, you prefaced something by telling me to remember you love me. I'm saying this because I love you too. I want you to have the baby. It's your decision. Obviously! What I mean is, if the only reason you're considering not following through is to protect me, then don't. Don't protect me, I mean. What were you gonna tell people about the father?"
"I haven't decided. Right now I'm leaning toward saying it's a guy I met at the mall, and hoping I don't have to make up any details. I might change it to someone I met online or say it happened at a party, just so they'll believe I don't have his name."
"I hate asking you to lie."