Her stomach hurt, her head hurt, and her knees were sore from spending so much time kneeling in front of the toilet. 

Adah James was not a happy pregnant lady.

Since the news from the doctor’s office, it seemed that Adah had found so many things that made her nauseous and even more things that made her throw up.  She couldn’t stand the smell of coffee, as she discovered at Justin’s.  She couldn’t eat anything remotely spicy because it gave her terrible heartburn.  The smell of onions, peppers, and mushrooms made her queasy, and apparently milk made her puke.

Again, not a happy pregnant lady.

What was even worse was the stress she was feeling over needing to tell Justin.  She never pictured herself in this position, and she was sure that there would be no more one night stands in her future.  Although, once she had a baby there would be even less opportunities for her to find a man. 

“Hey, Ads.  How’re you feeling?”  Sam handed Adah a glass of water and some crackers before sitting down on the side of her bed.

“Like shit.”  She munched on the crackers, praying that these would stay down.  She really didn’t want to puke anymore.

“Do you have to go over to Justin’s today?” 

“Yeah,” Adah nodded, “This afternoon.  I’m really not looking forward to being there with him.  I’m not sure I’m ready to tell him the baby is his yet.  I feel like I need to get to know the guy before I spring this on him.”

Sam shrugged, “I don’t know what to tell you, Ads.  Maybe it might be a good idea to keep this to yourself for a little while, give Justin a chance to get to know you, so he doesn’t think you’re just out for his money.”

“I’m sure he’s going to think that no matter how chummy we may get.  I can’t imagine he’s going to be very fond of some random chick coming into his house and springing news like this on him.”  She chuckled a little, but it wasn’t a very happy sound.  Sam frowned.

“Whatever his reaction, it doesn’t matter.  If he decides that he wants nothing to do with you, that’s his loss.  Brett and I will play Daddy.” 

“Brett I can believe, but you…I think you’re missing some crucial parts for playing daddy.”  Adah managed a small grin at her friend.

“Eh, that’s a technicality.”  Sam patted Adah on the knee, “I’ve got to be getting off to work.  Call the office if you need me for anything, though, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Adah gave Sam a hug and watched as her friend left the room.  She let out a long sigh and rested her head against the backboard of her bed. She should probably get up and shower, seeing as she felt like ass.  She had 31 more weeks of this to go and she was not looking forward to it.

There was so much to plan for and so much to think about, it was making her head spin.  She needed to think about her living situation because as much as she knew Brett and Sammy loved her, having a baby in a fairly cozy apartment would only work for so long.  She needed to think about names and all of that other stuff, and she needed to find herself a better job because dog training wouldn’t cut it forever.  She also needed to break the news to the father, but that was something she wanted to put off as long as possible.

Secretly, Adah was hoping that Justin would figure it out on his own.  He would be upset about it either way, but if he happened to remember their little rendezvous, she wouldn’t have to figure out how to tell him.  She’d just have to deal with the aftermath.

The huge, colossal, crap load of aftermath.

Glancing at the clock, Adah let out a groan.  She had about an hour before she needed to head back over to Justin’s.  She was dreading this, and she almost had half a mind to tell them that it wouldn’t work out.  She could easily give them the number of someone else she knew that did dog training, and then she’d be free of this mess.  Of course, she still needed to tell Justin.  She supposed that it might be beneficial to her that she’s working with him.  She’ll have the chance to get to know what kind of person he is and he’ll get to know her before she drops a huge bomb on him.

How the hell did her life turn into this?

Stretching, Adah pushed herself off of the couch and headed toward the bathroom so she could shower and get ready.  For some reason she almost felt the need to get dressed up and look presentable.  She wasn’t sure why, though, because obviously she’d already gotten the guy into bed.

Forty-five minutes later, Adah was on her way to Justin’s with a lump in her throat.  Blaming it on the baby, she swallowed the rest of the ginger-ale she’d brought with her and chewed on some Tums.  This was going to be a long and interesting day, she could feel it already.

“Hey Adah.”  Rachel greeted her at the door and she managed a small smile for the brunette.  “Justin’s in his office, I’ll go grab him and we’ll meet you out back.  The dogs are outside already.”

“Okay.”  She made her way out through the French doors and grinned at the two Boxers playing in the grass.  At least there was something here that made her at ease, even if they were dogs.

“Hey…” Justin’s voice sounded behind her and she jumped a little.  If he was going to make a habit out of sneaking up on her she was going to have words for him.

“Hey Justin.”  She fidgeted with the bag in her hands for a minute, feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze.

He watched her for a minute longer, still convinced that there was something oddly familiar about this girl.

“Here,” She handed him the bag she’d brought.  “I thought we could work on some leash training today.”

The awkward tension between the two of them was so thick that Adah felt a little suffocated standing near him.  If things were this bad now, she couldn’t imagine what things between them would be like when she finally broke the news to him.

Justin could sense that something was off with this girl and he couldn’t take it anymore, so he broke the silence. “Thanks.  I’ll call the dogs over.”

His retreating form relaxed Adah a little and she let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.  Talk about building something up.

She watched as he wrestled with the dogs, trying to put on the harnesses and tugging on the leashes she’d brought.  A chuckle escaped her lips.  This she could handle.

They spent a good two hours working with the dogs and Adah was glad to see that they were making a little progress.  She was worried that in her flustered state she’d mess everything up and nothing would get done, but the Boxers were great and things were going really well.  Justin seemed to listen to her, too, which was a good thing.

“I’m hungry.”  He announced after they’d removed the harnesses from the dogs and let them return to romping around the yard.

“I was thinking about ordering something from down the street.  Adah, do you want to stay for lunch?”  It was Rachel that extended the invitation, but Adah couldn’t help but turn to Justin to see if he approved.  He gave a non-committal shrug.

“No, that’s Okay.  Thanks, though.”  She sensed the discomfort of the man next to her and it was making Adah feel nauseous again.  “Can I grab some water, though?”

“Sure, are you feeling okay?”  The group headed inside and Justin disappeared down some hallway as Adah followed Rachel into the kitchen. 

“Yeah, I’m all right.  I guess I’m still getting used to this whole pregnancy thing.”  It felt awkward to be talking about this in Justin’s house, but she’d have to get used to it pretty quickly.

“How’re your parents taking it?”  The question caught Adah off guard.  She wasn’t used to all the questions about how everyone else was taking the news of her pregnancy.  All she was concerned with at the moment was how she was handling the whole thing.

“My mother passed away a few years ago,” She confessed, gladly taking the bottle of water that Rachel handed her.  “And I haven’t seen my dad since I was a little girl. My roommates have been nothing but supportive, though, and that’s a good thing.”

“I’m sorry,”  Rachel looked slightly mortified at Adah’s answer.  Everyone always seemed uncomfortable when she told them about her family life, but Adah was pretty used to it by now.

“It’s okay.  You didn’t know.”  She sipped at the water, glad that her nausea was subsiding.

“So you’re really not close with the father at all?”  Forget that, her stomach was still rolling.

“Uhm…no, not at all.”  She took another sip to give her mouth something to do.  It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Rachel, but she knew that Justin should be the first in this house to know.  “Thanks for the water; I’ll see you guys next week.”

“Uh, bye.”

Rachel looked a little stunned at Adah’s hasty retreat, but Adah couldn’t take the strange tension and pressure.  She needed to get out of there and fast.

At least she had the weekend to think things over and really figure out how she was going to do this.  Maybe she could invite Justin out to lunch or something, although, he probably wouldn’t want to be in public when he found out.  Maybe she would just corner him in his house and blurt it out.

Yeah…that would go over well.