While He Built Her Home novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: A Hundred and Forty-Six

Valerie's POV

The waiting room at the women's clinic had two rows of chairs, and by five to nine all of mine were taken.

Phoebe sat on my left with a coffee she wasn't allowed to hand me.

Clayton sat on my right with a paperback open on his knee, turning no pages.

Jared sat in the far corner by the fish tank.

He had shaved.

He wore a clean shirt buttoned to the collar, and he held a small notebook and a pen.

He had asked me, in a text on Wednesday night, whether it would be all right to write down what the doctor said.

I had written back: Yes.

Nobody in the room was speaking.

A receptionist with a clipboard looked at the four of us in turn, and then at my chart.

"Blakely?" she said. "The doctor's ready."

I stood up.

The three of them stood at once, and the chairs scraped.

"Only two can come in at a time," the receptionist said cheerfully. "Whoever you like."

I looked at Phoebe.

She shook her head hard.

"I'll cry on the equipment," she said. "Go. I'll take the next one."

I looked at Clayton, and then at Jared.

Jared had gone pale.

"I said he could come," I said.

"You did," Jared said. "I'll wait if you'd rather."

"I'd rather you didn't wait. Come in. Both of you, if she'll let us."

The doctor was a calm woman with reading glasses on a cord.

She let us.

The exam room was small, and the lights were turned low.

I lay back on the table with my sweater pushed up and a paper sheet over my knees.

Keep reading free with an account. Start While He Built Her Home from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.