Scrambled

"Come in, come in," John said.

"Thank you," Lily said.

"How are you? How have you been?" he asked.

"I've been good."

"You still working as a vet?"

"Yes. And you? Bioengineering?"

"Actually, I'm a teacher now."

"Wow! That's great. That's so cool."

"Yeah, it's been... oddly relaxing. You can put your coat here if you want," he said, gesturing toward the coat rack.

"Thank you."

They entered the living room and sat down on the couch. Lily's eyes darted around the room.

"I love what you've done with the place. I didn't know you were into florals."

John laughed awkwardly, "I... yeah... well... are you still living on Brooks street?"

"Yeah!" she said.

"That's cool."

"Yeah..."

Lily wondered if John was mocking her. He knew how much she hated her apartment. Unless he forgot...

"So... what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Oh..." she giggled, "I almost forgot! Um... so I went to the fertility clinic yesterday."

"Oh, is everything okay? I know you were having problems when we were together--did those ever get resolved?"

She paused. Resolved? What's that supposed to mean?

"Um..." she started, "No. They didn't get resolved. Things actually got worse."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. Um... well, where do I begin? Five years ago, after we split up, I met this guy named Kyle. And I thought he was the one. But he wasn't. And then I met this guy named Liam. And I thought he was the one. But he wasn't. And last year I met this guy. Rudy. And I really thought he was the one."

Lily sighed.

"But he wasn't," she said, "We just broke up like three weeks ago."

"Oh man, I'm sorry," John said.

"It's okay! I mean, I was devasated. But then I came to realize... I was less devastated about Rudy being gone and more devastated about missing another opportunity... to have a family. You know? Finally settle down and have children. So, I decided to have a baby. Alone. That's why I ended up at the fertility clinic."

Lily paused.

"Um, I don't know how much you remember from when we were together, but I managed to retrieve and freeze eight of my eggs. And, yesterday... the doctor told me that half of them were no longer viable, and there would only be a twenty-three percent chance I'd get pregnant with the other half," she said.

"Oh, Lily, I'm so sorry."

"No, don't be... there's actually another option."

She paused and took a deep breath.

"Do you remember how we did that embryo thing?" she asked.

When Lily and John were together, Lily's doctor had informed her that frozen embryos have higher success rates than frozen eggs. Lily was unashamed to ask John for his help (at the time, she thought he was the one). And because he was in love and slightly oblivious to the situation, John complied and provided his sperm to help create the embryo.

"Oh. Right..." he remembered.

"The doctor said there would be a ninety-seven percent success rate," she said.

"You didn't..."

Lily quickly shifted in her seat.

"Oh... no. Of course not! But that's why I came." she said.

He shifted away from her and stared down at the ground.

"Lily, I'm sorry, but I... I'm not comfortable with you doing that," he said.

Lily adjusted her posture and quickly changed her tone.

"Totally fair. I knew you probably wouldn't be. I just wanted to ask. Just in case, you know?"

"I'm really sorry," he said "And, uh, I didn't know how to tell you this, but I'm with someone."

"You are?"

"Yeah, and we have a kid."

Lily took a deep breath.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I had no idea. I didn't see a ring."

"We're not married yet. But we will be soon. In a month."

"Wow," she said, taking another deep breath.

They sat in awkward silence. Lily quickly stood up.

"Okay, well, thank you for listening."

"Yeah, of course. Again, I'm really sorry, but if you ever need anything, just phone me. We love to host dinner parties, so you should come some time. Andrea's also a teacher so our evenings are wide open."

"Andrea?"

"My fiancé."

"Right," she swallowed, "Yes. That sounds great."

Lily grabbed her coat and John walked her to the door. As he opened the door, Lily found herself sandwiched between him, Andrea, and their three-year old son.

"Hi..." Lily said.

"Oh hi!" Andrea said, "You must be Lily! John told me you were going to visit. So nice to meet you!"

Andrea and Gabriel walked into the house as Lily stepped outside.

"Nice to meet you too. I was just heading out, but you have a lovely house, and an adorable son."

Andrea put her grocery bags down and leaned against the doorway.

"Thank you so much," Andrea said, "He's our miracle baby."

Lily tilted her head.

"Miracle baby?"

"Yeah, I didn't think I would be able to concieve because I had frozen my eggs over ten years ago, but most of them were still viable! Isn't that crazy?"

Lily froze.

"Yeah... crazy," Lily said.

John cleared his throat and intervened, "Okay, well, I bet you've got a long drive, so..."

Lily didn't have a long drive. Brooks street was ten minutes away.

"Don't be rude, John," Andrea said.

"No, it's totally okay!" Lily reassured, "It's getting late, and I haven't had dinner yet. But you guys have a great night, okay?"

John noticed tears in Lily's eyes.

"You too!" Andrea said.

"Bye Lily," John said.

As Lily turned around, the tears started falling. She rushed to her car so she could cry in private.

She looked at John's house and spiraled. He was the one that got away. She could've been Andrea. What could she have done differently? What could she do now? She was all out of faith. She needed a plan, or else she was going to lose it.

A dinner party. A ticket to their wedding. Perhaps a night alone with him. Somehow, Lily needed to rekindle the flame she and John lost. At the very least, she needed to create a situation that would make everything make sense. That way, her dream could still come true.

She just needed to figure out a way to sabotage John's relationship, swoop in, have an affair with him, and ultimately have a magical night that would, to everyone's surprise but Lily's, unexpectedly yield... a miracle baby.

Ninety-seven percent.

That's why she did it.

Lily's only chance to have her own child was through her and John's embryo. He had his own child, so of course he wouldn't understand. But, in the end, he wouldn't need to. Her plan was going to make truth out of her lie and save her. She just needed to do it all before the baby bump appeared.