Page 93 of The Lucky One
Glancing at her, I noticed some weight gain. “The usual—headaches, digestive issues... weight gain?” I added tentatively, raising my shoulders. Her body was beautiful, but compared to her physique when she got here, it had me worried.
“I did gain weight. But it’s the food here! I wasn’t used to eating like this in Germany,” she said defensively.
I nodded. “Is there anything else you noticed?”
“Not really... but I thought I was at a gynecologist. Why are you asking all this?”
“We do all sorts of checks,” I said. “Totally normal. So, um—” I swallowed hard at the next question on the list. “Do you, um—” C’mon, Kiki, shake it off. You’re a professional. “When was your last period, and have you had intercourse recently?”
“Uh, three weeks ago, and...” She went quiet. “What’s intercourse?”
I sucked in a breath. Where was the hole in the ground beneath me when I needed it?
“It’s, um, sex, and I need to know how often you practice it and approximately how many partners you’ve had till this date.”
“Oh!” Emily’s eyes widened in panic.
Who was I kidding? This wasn’t a normal doctor-patient conversation. I should’ve stopped the moment I saw it was her. “You don’t have to answer that,” I added, deciding to let my mother have this conversation with her after all.
“No, um... I only slept with one person so far.” She swallowed, and I held my breath. A rush of morbid curiosity overcame me.
“With Paul?”
Her eyes shimmered.
“Sorry, this is unprofessional. You don’t have to answer.” I shook my head and put down the clipboard.
“Do you like him?” Emily’s grip on her examination gown tightened.
“Me? Well, yeah. He’s my friend,” I said, fully regretting initiating this conversation.
Emily bit her lip, studying me as if she were the doctor now. “It’s more than that, isn’t it?”
“That’s not relevant. It’s in the past.”
“It is relevant,” Emily insisted. “Paul is amazing.”
The words escaped before I could cap them. “You can’t have them both.”
“I know,” she said, her face flushing red. “But I love him like family and I want him to find someone who makes him happy.”
I snorted, hearing echoes of Jon’s sentiments. “Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
“Sorry?”
I sighed, realizing that I might have jumped to conclusions. “Look, I appreciate your concern, Emily. I really do. But we already settled that all we’ll ever be is friends, and that’s okay.”
She raised an eyebrow. “But you don’t want to be just friends?”
I leaned back in my chair and glanced up at the bright lights above me. “Even if I liked him more than that, it wouldn’t make a difference because he’s still hung up on you.”
She flinched slightly but didn’t say anything.
“Are you over him?” I asked.
She thought for a second. “I am. I understand it now.” And then she smiled so broadly that even I couldn’t help but find it adorable.
I straightened my lab coat and picked up the clipboard again, noting the final question on the paper. “So, um—you only slept with one person so far.”