Innocence

“Looking good, Maci,” Dr. Yung tells me at my next appointment. “The baby’s developing right on track and you’re doing great with everything. Just keep it up and you’ll be fine. Do you have any questions?” she asks.

“Um, when can we find out the sex?” I ask.

“Do you want to know the sex?”

“Yes,” I say.

"Let's take a look." She says.

She pulls the baby up on the screen and moves the wand around until, she finds it. "It seems your having a baby, boy!"

“Oh,” I say smiling happily, she prints a ton of pictures out so everyone can see what he looks like in 3-d.

Twenty minutes later, I’m signed out of the office with another appointment set up for the week after next. I am driving to my house.

I’m greeted by Sara, who’s resting comfortably on the couch with a drink in her hand while watching a movie. I drop my bag at the door and shut it. I walk over to the fridge and take the Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream out of the freezer. I grab a clean spoon out of the sink. I walk over to the couch and sit on the floor.

“Hey,” Sara says groggily.

“Hi, were you sleeping?” I ask.

“Yeah, I was, a little.”

“Is Johnny coming over at all?” I ask.

“No, he came home from work today and was pretty tired, so I sent him back to his apartment to sleep,” she says. “He was out late with friends last night too.”

“And you didn’t go?” I ask.

“No,” she says. “I was out with my girlfriends.”

“Oh.” I say.

“I found out the gender.” I say.

"Boy or girl?" Sara says.

“Boy” I say.

She hugs me tightly, then I get up and walk into my room, I fall onto the bed and fall into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Sara charges into my room, shaking my shoulder rapidly. I sleep through most of it until she starts shouting in my ear.

“What?” I yell.

“Maci. Johnny's on the phone. Something terrible has happened! Honey, he needs you.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“I don’t know, I’ve never heard him like this. He’s not making any sense. He’s hysterical and he needs you. He keeps asking for you. He’s at Los Angeles General. We have to go, now!” Sara tells me, pulling me out of bed and throwing a sweatshirt at me. I put it on and rush out the door with Sara, all that's rushing through my hand is that something bad happened to Matt.