***All characters are over 18 and are fictional. Any resemblance to any real-life persons or situations is purely coincidental.
Thank you to HeyAll for beta reading this story for me.
...
The phone rang again, much to Evan's annoyance. He didn't recognize the number, so he refused to answer it. But it was the same number that kept calling throughout the day, so he contemplated answering it to see which telemarketer was bothering him as he was studying. He soon realized it wasn't going to end just by ignoring them; if he just answered and told them to fuck off, maybe they'd get the message and take the number off their calling list.
"Hello."
"Hello, my name is Rebecca. I'm calling from the Goldman Fertility Center. Can I speak to Susan Teller please?"
"She's not here right now... wait, who did you say you're calling from?" Evan asked. He wasn't entirely sure if he heard correctly who was calling his mother.
"Goldman Fertility Center," she replied. "Run by Dr. Goldman himself, the number one fertility specialist in the county."
"Um, ok..." Evan replied nervously. "My mother is Susan. She's not here right now. Can I tell her what this is about?"
"I'm sorry, but due to our confidentiality policy, we cannot disclose personal information to anyone but a patient of Dr. Goldman's. Can you please have her call us back at her earliest convenience?"
"Sure, I'll let her know," Evan told her. "But you can call her on her cell number if you don't have it."
"Looks like I do have her cell number on file. Thank you for letting me know I can call her there."
They said their goodbyes and hung up on each other.
Evan was in shock. He had just found out that his mother was visiting a fertility specialist, which could only mean that she was planning on getting pregnant. Just to be sure, he quickly looked up if there were other reasons for a woman to see a fertility specialist. There were a number of reasons for seeing one, but they all led to women wanting to have children. So, there was no doubt about what his mother's intentions were.
He wasn't against the idea. He was an only child, and growing up he always wanted a sibling to hang out with. But he was 22 now and had just started his last year of college, so he was long past the idea of having a sibling. But now that he found out that his mother was looking to have a baby, he was excited at the idea of being the cool older brother.
But he was concerned about whether his mother was making the right decision. She was in her late thirties; she was still young enough to have a baby. But she wasn't involved with anybody at the moment, and he was afraid that she might not be able to handle raising a kid on her own. Evan would be there for her, of course, but with his last year of college, an internship, and looking to start a career after he graduates, he wasn't sure how much he could be there for her.
A few hours later, his mother, Susan, came home from work. She called out to Evan that she was home, and he called back to her with his own greeting. She told him she was getting dinner ready and to be ready in about an hour, which gave Evan plenty of time to figure out how he was going to talk to her about what he found out about her today.
Susan quickly changed out of her work clothes and went to the kitchen to make dinner. She already had most of it ready before she left for work that morning. All she needed to do was season the food and bake it in the oven. Exactly an hour later, the food was ready, and Evan showed up just in time to help her get the table ready for dinner.
While they ate, they conversed about how their days were. For Susan, it was the general stuff about her day at work. And for Evan, it was the same old stuff about studying and working on reports.
Eventually, Evan decided he couldn't put off asking her about the fertility doctor any longer and decided to just ask her about it.
"I should let you know you got a call a few hours ago," said Evan.
"From who?" Susan asked.
"Dr. Goldman."
Upon hearing that name, Susan got very nervous, which was very noticeable to Evan.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Evan asked.
"What did they say when they called?"
"Nothing," Evan replied. "They just wanted to talk to you. They said they'd call back, but I told them they should try to call your cell."
"They did call me, thank you," she said, looking a little relieved as if her son didn't know what Dr. Goldman's office was calling about.
"But they did say that Dr. Goldman was a fertility specialist," Evan revealed.
Susan got nervous again. She knew her son wasn't stupid and figured out what she was seeing that kind of doctor for. She was going to tell him about her decision eventually, but she wanted to wait a while and do it on her own terms. But now she has no choice but to spill the beans.
"I was going to tell you myself, at the right time," she said. "I'm sure you figured it out already, but I should just tell you myself anyway. I have recently made the decision that I want to have a baby."
Despite already figuring it out on his own, Evan still felt a little surprised by hearing it come from his own mother.
"Wow!" was all that Evan could say.
"You know, I always wanted more children," she continued. "I assumed I would be remarried and have a few kids by now, but it never happened. I know this is a shock to you, especially for someone my age—"
"You're still young enough to have a baby, but I'm surprised you're doing it. You don't have to be married, obviously, but you're not even in a relationship with anybody right now. Do you really want to do this alone?"