(Lisa)
The lights are too bright, the sheets too crisp, and everything feels weird. I blink slowly, my head pounding. My mouth tastes like I’ve been chewing cotton balls for breakfast.
Where the hell am I?
Then it hits me. The office. The meeting. Lance.
I sit up too fast, and the room spins like I’m on some twisted carnival ride. I feel something in my arm and see an IV. There are monitors and things stuck on me.
Shit, I’m in a hospital.
A groan slips out before I can stop it, and suddenly there’s a nurse by my side, her face all sympathy and no-nonsense professionalism.
“Easy now,” she says, pressing a cool hand to my wrist. “You fainted, remember? You weren’t responsive for a while. But the drip has done its job.”
Fainted? Right. That’s what normal people do when they think they’ve seen their dead ex-lover casually standing in a boardroom like it’s just another Tuesday.
“Okay... fainted,” I mumble, rubbing my temples. “Great. That’s just... fantastic.”
The nurse offers me a small smile. “Your bloods all came back fine. Dehydration and a lack of proper nutrition likely caused your fainting spell. When was the last time you ate?”
“Ahhh, well, yesterday, lunch… or maybe it was breakfast. Stress eating isn’t exactly my thing,” I mutter. “More like stress not-eating.” And stress seeing-ghosts.
She hands me a bottle of water. “I’ll get you some sandwiches. Try to drink some water.”
“I can’t eat sandwiches.”
“If you want to get discharged, you’ll have to. Get your strength back.”
Strength? Who has time for that when you’re apparently hallucinating ghosts?
I take a sip from the water bottle, the cool liquid easing the dryness in my throat. “Okay. Sandwiches it is.” I need to get out of here. “How did I get here?”
The nurse tilts her head. “Ambulance. Your friend Winona is waiting out there. But you’ll have to see the doctor before anyone can come in here with you.”
I nod and as if on cue, the curtain pulls sideways and in walks a doctor, all white coat and efficiency. “Lisa Forbes, right?”
I nod weakly.
He checks my chart, flipping through it like it holds the answers to all of life’s mysteries. “Well, Ms. Forbes, everything looks good now. No infections, no viruses, just a classic case of exhaustion and a little malnutrition. But,” he pauses, giving me a careful look, “I do have some news you might not have expected.”
I brace myself, my gut telling me whatever he’s about to say, I won’t like it. “Hit me.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I sit bolt upright.
His words slap me harder than the office floor did. My whole body goes cold. I think I’m going to faint again. My monitor beeps and the nurse pushes me back onto the pillow.
“Stay calm, your heart rate and blood pressure just spiked,” the nurse adds.
“No. No, that’s—” I choke out a laugh. “That can’t be right. Pregnancy? Are you sure?”
“Positive, Ms. Forbes.”
“This has to stay confidential.” How can I tell Winona I’m pregnant with a child I’ve never wanted when she’s just lost her baby boy? I can’t.
Deep down, it all makes sense. The nausea, the exhaustion. I’ve been brushing it off as stress, but stress doesn’t come with morning sickness and a sudden aversion to alcohol.
The doctor watches me carefully.
I take a few shaky breaths and calm myself down. “Okay... I’m okay.”
But I’m not okay. Not even close to okay. But I’ll never get out of here unless I’m calm.
I blink at her. “Lance?”
She shakes her head. “No. Logan. Lance’s identical twin.”
My mouth falls open. “You’re shitting me.”
Can this day actually get any more ridiculous?
Winona sighs. “I wish I was. He’s Lance’s twin brother, Lisa. Lance found him about a year ago, and—” she hesitates. “He never told us. Not me, not Jayden... not you.”
I swallow hard, trying to process. “A twin not some kind of sick fever dream?”
“Nope.” Winona’s lips press together. “Logan Bennett. Lance set this all up, Lisa.”
My chest tightens. “Why wouldn’t he tell us?”
Winona’s eyes soften. “You know Lance. He loved surprises. Maybe he thought it’d be easier this way.”
I groan and flop back onto the pillows. “You’re telling me I’m stuck with a carbon copy of my ex-whatever while trying to run his damn charities?” Not to mention being pregnant with his child.
Winona shrugs. “I guess so.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “This is some twisted cosmic joke.”
I take a bite of the sandwiches I have to eat.
Winona pats my hand. “We’ll figure it out.”
But there’s more to figure out than just Logan.
There’s a whole life growing inside me.
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