Chapter 41: Test Result
Tessa stood outside the hospital, looking pale. Her nails dug into the reports, eyes clouded over with tears. Doctor Moore’s voice echoed in her ears as she handed her the envelope.
"It’s positive, Miss Tessa. I’m so sorry."
The words didn’t feel real. They spun in her mind like a cruel echo she couldn’t shut off. She pressed the back of her fist to her lips, holding in the sob that clawed at her throat.
Her legs moved before her mind caught up. Down the hospital steps. Across the parking lot. Into her car. She shut the door and just sat there, clutching the paper like it could rewrite itself if she held it tightly enough.
She had HIV.
The words didn’t match her. Not in her mind. Not in her story. She wasn’t reckless. She wasn’t the type. That’s what people thought, right? That it only happened to those kinds of people. The promiscuous ones.
But now... people would think she was one of them.
Her phone buzzed in the cup holder. It was her mom. Again. She’d been texting and calling. She saw Clifford’s engagement news and thought her daughter would be miserable, if not worse. She knew how much Tessa loved the fucker.
God, if she knew... if she ever found out—
Tessa let her head fall back against the seat and stared at the ceiling, tears streaming down her face, running down the sides of her eyes. She sniffed, unwilling to wail, but she couldn’t help it, couldn’t stop it. She dropped her forehead on the steering, sobbing loudly as her shoulders shook miserably.
Clifford was her first real boyfriend. The ones she had in the past, they didn’t cross the line – it was just innocent flings and infatuations.