Erica had thought she was going to die. Instead, they dragged her back.
The nurse told her Laura was fine, and for a moment Erica didn't know how she was supposed to react.
She had nearly died in that transfusion room, while the woman Carter cradled in the palm of his hand had been up and lively long before.
The door swung open, and Carter walked in.
He carried a fruit basket, which he set on the cabinet by her bed.
“You're awake?” His tone was flat. “Laura's been discharged too. False alarm. The baby's fine.”
Erica said nothing.
Laura poked her head out from behind Carter.
She wore a loose maternity dress, her cheeks flushed and rosy, looking perfectly well, with no trace of the woman who'd been clutching her belly and crying out in pain the day before.
She came to Erica's bedside and gave a sweet little smile.
“Erica, thank you so much for donating blood! The doctor said if you hadn't given it in time, the baby and I might both have been in danger.”
Erica's lashes trembled.
Laura tugged at Carter's sleeve and said, coaxing, “Carter, let's throw a little dinner at home tonight to celebrate. Let's invite Erica too. She did me such a big favor, I have to thank her properly.”
Carter looked down at Laura, his eyes soft in a way Erica had never once seen:
“All right. Whatever you want.”
Erica closed her eyes. “I won't go. I'm not feeling well.”
“Don't be a killjoy.” Carter's voice cooled a few degrees. “Laura went out of her way to invite you. How could you have the nerve not to come?”
Erica opened her eyes and met his gaze.
Carter crossed to her bedside, bent down, and under the cover of straightening the fruit basket, lowered his voice against her ear:
“I already told Laura that the ‘five years together’ you mentioned was a misunderstanding, that you remembered it wrong, that we were only ordinary friends. When you get there, don't say the wrong thing.”
Erica's pupils widened slightly.
A misunderstanding?
Five years of what they'd been to each other, and he waved it off with one light word: misunderstanding.
She parted her lips, wanting to say something, but her throat felt as if something were lodged in it, and not a single word would come out.
Laura, utterly oblivious, was still smiling beside them.
“Then it's settled!”
……
The three of them went home together.
Laura had just started to punch in the code when the door was pulled open from inside.
“Pop! Pop!”
Two party poppers went off, and gold streamers and glitter rained down, settling all over Erica's hair and clothes.
“Welcome home to our adorable little mom-to-be, Laura, and the husband who loves her most!”
The cheering cut off the instant they saw who was standing in the doorway.
Terence held the second popper he hadn't had time to set off, his mouth slightly open, his expression frozen on his face.
Mavis stood beside him with a bouquet in her hands, her smile stalled at the corners of her mouth before she could pull it back.
The three of them looked at each other.
The living room had been decked out to the hilt.
Balloons and flowers, the coffee table crowded with fruit and snacks, and a photo cast up on the TV screen.
It was a picture of Carter and Laura, the two of them leaning together, smiling with their eyes crinkled bright.
Erica stood in the doorway, looking at Terence and Mavis, the two friends she had once given her whole heart to.
