Page 19

Making her way to the ladies’ room, where she could hear Reena retching over the toilet bowl.

She knocked on the door and her sister begged her to go away, that it was just an upset stomach.

Coco left and went to the bar to get some ginger ale and a damp cloth from the bartender, before returning to the bathroom and the silence coming from the stall her sister was in.

“Reena?”

“I’m okay. I think my stomach is now completely empty and nothing else to come out.”

“Okay, can you open the door for me? I have some ginger ale for you to sip on.”

“Sure.” She let out a sigh and Coco heard the latch undo.

She pushed the door slowly open, trying not to hit her sister who was down on the ground on her knees in front of the toilet bowl. She handed her sister the wet cloth and Reena cleaned her mouth and chin of any aftereffects of her being sick.

“Are you pregnant, Reena?”

Her sister stared at her with big brown eyes before tears began to pool in them.

“I think so or this is the longest stomach flu I have ever had.” She began to cry, and Coco worked her way down and pulled her sister into her arms. Her mind racing now on what this could mean for her sister if she was pregnant.

“Okay, so you haven’t taken a test yet. Reena, if you are, who is the father?” Reena shook her head. “Reena, you know you will have to tell him and the family who he is.”

She barely heard her sister when she said. “I don’t know who he is or what his name is.”

She stiffened; her baby sister had a one-night stand.

“Please don’t say anything yet to Mom and Dad. I don’t know because I was very intoxicated, and I think I met him afterwards.” Reena stared off toward the wall and frowned.

She glanced back at Coco as she continued. “Everything was a blur when I woke up in the hotel room with him. I just gathered my clothes and bolted, not waiting to find out who he was.”

“Was your drink spiked by him?” Coco’s stomach pitched at the thought that a man took advantage of her sister, and she wasn’t there to protect her.

“No, I can’t hold my liquor. It was my first time drinking and I only had one or two glasses before I was tipsy.”

“What happened to the people you went out with?” Coco spoke with rising anger in her voice.

“They wanted to go to another bar, and I decided I was going to go home because Dr. Johnson’s Medical Biographies arrived, and I wanted to get back to reading.

” She gave her sister a rueful smile. “I had called a cab when he sat down at the bar next to me.” She sat down on the floor as she continued.

“I remember thinking how handsome he was and how sad at the same time and I decided to try coming out of my shell and stay a little longer, trying my best at flirting, especially since I had liquid courage. He was just there overnight, waiting for a connecting flight.”

She frowned, her glasses sliding down her nose and she pushed them back up automatically. “I think he ordered us another round of drinks and I remember finding everything he said funny, or I was trying to be cute.”

“Do you recall what he looked like?”

She pursed her lips. “The bar was dark but I think his hair was blond, and he had these memorizing blue eyes. That all I can remember now, everything else is still a bit foggy.”

“The hotel?”

Her sister gave her a look “I can’t remember, and I didn’t stick around to ask the front desk questions or look to see what it was called. Just jumped into a waiting cab, glad I didn’t have to call one to get me just in case he woke up while I left the hotel room.”

“Is that all?” Coco had a sneaking suspicion her sister wasn’t telling her everything.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you go and get the morning-after pill?”

Her sister ducked her head and Coco groaned. “You’re kidding me. You went home and picked up that damn book.”

Reena just nodded and then they both jumped when they heard someone walk into the washroom. Coco quickly stood and closed the door, keeping them from any prying eyes.

“Hello.” They saw feet encased in sneakers approach the door and let out sighs that it wasn’t their mother coming to look for them.

“Yes, hello.”

They listened as the person moved slightly closer and knew they were pressing their ear against the door.

“Are you both okay?”

“Yes, just got my hair caught in my dress and my sister is here helping work it free.”

“Aw okay.” The woman sounded confused.

Then Coco spoke again. “We are good, thank you.” She repeated, hoping the woman would take the hint and go into another stall. Her sister needed to wash up at the sink and they didn’t need an audience.

They breathed a sigh of relief when the person moved on, and they heard the stall door next to them open and close. They moved out and toward the sink, where Reena cleaned the rest of her face and washed her hands.

Reena still looked a little pale and Coco took out her compact and put some of her shimmering powder on her to try and make her ashy look go away because if their mother saw her now, she would definitely know something was wrong. It was best to keep silent for now.

She hoped more of Reena’s memory would come back because now both Reena and the unsuspecting father had decisions to make together.

She exited the bathroom with Reena, her mind now preoccupied with her sister’s pregnancy and not on her up-and-coming wedding and hoped they could figure this all out before she walked down the aisle.