*   *   *

As Gwen drove down her sister’s street, she took a few deep breaths to pull herself together. The last twenty-four hours had been an emotional roller coaster. With the negative pregnancy test, the arrival of her period to drive the point home this morning, and Dominic’s continued radio silence, she was well on her way to an epic pity party. She had decided last night to tell him the news when he returned, but she had since changed her mind. So, when she pulled her car to a stop, she grabbed her cell phone from her purse and quickly brought up his name. Instead of calling, she decided to send a text. It was more impersonal, and it seemed that their relationship had declined to just that level over the course of this week.

So, without any fanfare she typed, “Took test—not pregnant.” Her fingers hovered over the keys for another moment. It felt wrong to send such an abrupt message, but what was she supposed to say? Do you like me? Check yes or no. Where are you? Why haven’t you called? Yeah, those were just a few of the questions that she’d like to have answered. Instead, she quickly hit the SEND button, then proceeded to sit in the car in front of her sister’s house for an additional ten minutes, waiting for a reply.

She was getting her overnight bag from the backseat when her phone chimed. “Good deal . . . Thanks for letting me know.” Following the one sentence reply was a smiley face. In an uncharacteristic display of temper, Gwen took her phone and threw it against the oak tree in her sister’s yard where it promptly separated into a few extra pieces.

“Okay, who’s the man this time?” asked Wendy dryly as she stood staring at Gwen from the front steps.

Gwen wanted to throw herself at the tree next. Not only had she given her sister something to relentlessly question her about, but she’d also destroyed a phone that would eat a chunk out of her checking account to replace. Maybe it was childish, but she blamed both of those things on Dominic. What an ass. “It’s nothing,” Gwen mumbled as she walked past Wendy and into the house.

Before she could make an escape to the spare room that she normally used when visiting, Wendy took her arm and steered her toward the kitchen. Motioning toward a barstool, she said, “Sit,” to which Gwen promptly complied. Her sister tended to treat Gwen like one of her students, and she’d long ago gotten used to taking orders from her. As Wendy’s husband, Peter, had said more than once, it was easier to go along with the program where Wendy was concerned. After buzzing around her well-organized kitchen for another few minutes, her sister settled onto the stool across from her with two cups of coffee. Gwen took a sip from the mug placed in front of her and waited for the inquisition to begin. “So, what’s with the tantrum in the yard?”

Fiddling with the handle of her cup, Gwen said, “It was hardly a tantrum. I was just blowing off some steam after a hectic day at the office.”

Wendy lifted the busted iPhone from the counter. “These things cost about eight hundred bucks to replace, so I hope it was worth it.”

Gwen winced, thinking the price was even worse than she had imagined. She’d paid only a couple hundred dollars when she’d taken out the plan last year. “It’s just—things aren’t going too well with this guy I’ve been seeing.”

Wendy rolled her eyes and huffed inelegantly. “When are things ever going well on that front, Gwenie? You keep picking the same losers over and over again and then expect a different outcome. Honey, when are you going to learn from your mistakes?”

Instead of being pissed off at her sister’s words, Gwen found herself tearing up. Dammit, the last thing she wanted was for Wendy to see her sobbing over some guy again. But Dominic had been different. Maybe they hadn’t officially known each other long, but she’d been drawn to him from the first moment she’d seen him. Love at first sight might seem far-fetched and cliché, but that was how she felt when she was with him. “This wasn’t the same, Wendy,” she choked out on a sob. “I care about Dominic and he—I thought he felt the same. I mean, even though it started with the pregnancy thing, we really clicked. He was so—”

“WHAT?” Wendy screeched. “You’re pregnant? Oh, fluck, Gwen! How could you let that happen?” Even in the depths of her despair, Gwen couldn’t help but notice that Wendy still couldn’t say a proper curse word. Maybe it was for the best since she was around a bunch of impressionable kids all day.

Before she could answer her sister’s hysterical questions, Peter walked into the kitchen and froze as he took in the scene before him. Gwen could only imagine how she looked with tears rolling off her like a fountain; Wendy’s face was so red, she looked like she would combust at any moment. “Bad breakup again, Gwen?” He made a bad attempt at a joke as he grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator.

“No, this time she’s gotten herself pregnant!” Wendy snapped. Peter’s mouth dropped open as he stared at them both in shock.

“I’m not pregnant,” Gwen finally managed to get out. “Dammit, Wendy, will you stop jumping to conclusions!”

Throwing her hands up in the air, Wendy shouted, “Well, then why did you say that you were? And please tone down the potty mouth while you’re at it!” Peter, to his credit, after having been down this road with his wife before, lowered his head and hurried from the kitchen without saying another word. Gwen was sure that the reason their marriage worked so well was that Peter was secure enough in his masculinity to basically let Wendy be in charge at home.

Gwen had to wonder as she looked at her sister, why she always came directly to her for a shot of tough love. Maybe because she knew without a doubt that her sister loved her and would slay a village to protect her. Wendy just had a hard time relating to Gwen’s love life since her own course to happily ever after had been so smooth. She and Peter had met in high school, dated throughout college, and then gotten married when they had both obtained their degrees. Their romance had been orderly and followed the exact path that they’d laid out. Gwen’s on the other hand had never been smooth for more than a few months, it seemed.

It was far too easy to see why Peter had assumed she was here over a man. Because she had sat on this same barstool many other times as she bemoaned yet another failed relationship. Wendy had stated after her last breakup that she couldn’t understand why Gwen kept allowing history to repeat itself. The thing was, Gwen had no idea what she was doing wrong. It wasn’t like she was picking bad boys each time, knowing they’d screw her over. She dated men who, for the most part, were gainfully employed, educated, and stable. For some reason, they just never wanted to stick around—with her, that was. Several had gone on to marry shortly after leaving her and were now minivan-driving super dads. Heck, maybe she was a required course for men to take before they got married.

Wendy gestured impatiently for her to explain her latest dating disaster. Slumping her shoulders because she knew that her sister hated bad posture, Gwen told her about the first night with Dominic. She left out the fact that they’d had sex for pretty much the entire night. In this instance, it was better for Wendy to believe that she had lost her common sense only that first time and not her morals and inhibitions along with it. “So, everything had been going so well between us up until the last week. I mean, I tried to hold back and not get attached to him. . . .”

“But you are,” Wendy added quietly. “Honey, didn’t you think it might be a bad idea to get involved with someone at work? You’re going to have to see him every day. Think about how awkward that’s going to be now.”

Rubbing her watery eyes, Gwen asked, “So, you think it’s over?”