Suddenly by Barbara Delinsky

remembered. Seventeen years old and one of Paige’s original Tucker patients, Jill held a special place in her heart, which was only one of the reasons Paige was alert. The other was that the Stickleys had been through more than their share of rough times of late. One more wouldn’t do.
    “Show her into my office,” Paige said without pause. “I’ll be right there.” She rose from the table with an apology to Angie.
    “Go,” Angie urged. “I’ll see if I can learn anything more about Mara’s day. Something’s missing.”
    That had been Paige’s thought exactly, but it was gone from mind the minute she saw Jill Stickley’s face. The girl was standing awkwardly in her office, looking exhausted, pale, and tense.
    Paige imagined that Jill’s father, a frustrated insurance salesman, had beaten her mother again, or that her mother, who had been unemployed for a year before landing a lower-paying job, had been laid off again, or that Jill’s brother had stolen another car and been caught again ditching it at the Tucker landfill.
    She put an arm around Jill’s shoulder and said, “No matter what it is, it can’t be that bad.” After a while, nothing was. “Go on. Tell me.”
    “I think I’m pregnant,” Jill said in a reed-thin voice while frightened eyes sought Paige’s reaction.
    Paige swallowed. “Pregnant?” It wasn’t what she’d expected at all. “Uh, I thought we agreed on birth control pills.”
    “We did. Only I messed up, I guess.”
    “What makes you think so?”
    “I’m late.”
    “How late?”
    “A couple of months.”
    Paige glanced at her middle, which was covered with loose layers and revealed nothing. The hand she put there learned far more. Beneath it was a distinct bulge. “A couple of months? Oh, sweetie. This feels like four at the least.”
    Jill’s eyes filled with tears. “I guess I lost count,” she whispered.
    Lost count? Paige cried silently. How could you lose count? We’ve been talking about sperm meeting egg since you started menstruating five years ago. I pushed abstinence until abstinence became a pipe dream, and then I pushed contraception.
    But the arguments were moot. The deed was done. “And you’re terrified.”
    The girl nodded.
    Paige rubbed her back. “Does Joey know?” Joey was the longtime boyfriend, an automobile mechanic, six years older than Jill. “Of course he knows,” Paige answered herself. “He’s seen this bulge.”
    But Jill shook her head. “He thought I was getting fat. He’s been razzing me about it. So I told him the truth last night. He said he didn’t want any part of a fat girlfriend or a screaming baby, and that I could do what I wanted with it. I thought he’d get used to the idea overnight, so I went home and sat up all night praying for it, but when I stopped at his place this morning, he had packed up and gone.”
    Paige sighed. “Oh, sweetie.”
    “I can’t tell my dad—he’ll go apeshit—and if I tell Mom, he’ll accuse her of keeping secrets from him. He’ll hit her big time for that.” She wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand. “I’ve really messed up this time, haven’t I?”
    Paige clicked her tongue. “Bringing new life into the world is never a mess-up. What gets hairy is the way we handle it.” She guided Jill to the examining room. “Let’s take a look and see what we’re dealing with here.”
    Ten minutes later they were back in the office, sitting close on the small sofa, trying to “handle” the situation. Jill ruled out an abortion, for which Paige, who had fresh visions of Mara pregnant at the very same age, would have been grateful even if the timing had been right, though it wasn’t. Paige estimated that Jill was indeed four to five months pregnant, and although physically an abortion might still have been safely performed, the emotional ramifications would be tougher. Then again, raising the baby was a hardship Jill could ill afford; the Stickleys had negative economic