The Little White Lie

Lydia jumped when the phone in the living room rang. She ran out of the powder room, snatching the cordless phone off the glass top dining table, jabbing a trembling finger at the Talk button.

“Hello?” she said, hoping her voice was steady. She felt foolish for being startled by the phone's ring.

“Lydia, hi, it’s Roy,” came the voice of her boyfriend and lover of five years over the static of an overseas line.

“Hi, Roy, how’s London? Are you coming home soon?” Lydia asked, her intuition keenly stabbing at her senses. Roy had been away for almost two months and hadn’t called her in all that time.

“London is great! You really need to come here some day, Lydia,” came Roy’s response, then there was a time of long silence. She thought they had been cut off at first, but his voice came back to her a little clearer.

“Lydia, I’m not coming home. I...I’ve met someone here.” Roy’s voice drifted off back into the static. “I think you would like her. Becky is a really nice gal who works for the American consulate here. I met her when I was having some problems being allowed to get my luggage at Heathrow. Something about contraband in one of my bags. Turned out to be my cologne. Go figure.”

Lydia slowly lowered herself into one of the dining chairs. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

“That’s good, Roy, I was going to tell you when you got home that I had met someone too.” She glanced around the room, her eyes falling on the newspaper she had been reading while having her morning coffee. It was open to the movie pages. A large black and white picture of Elijah Woods staring at a ring dangling from a chain caught her attention. “His name is Elijah. I met him at Starbucks next to the Cineplex last month. He’s a great guy and I love him very much, Roy.” The young woman hoped she sounded natural with her white lie.

Again, there was that static ridden silence, “Really, Lydia? Great, now I don’t feel quite so bad about laying this news on you,” Roy replied flatly.

Lydia could detect the slightest hint of irritation in his voice, this consoled her a bit. She had taken away the edge to his shock factor and left him to think how he wasn’t the only man in Lydia’s life.

“I have to go Lydia, Becky and I are going clubbing tonight and I have to get ready.”

“Yeah, okay, Roy. Oh, and the best of luck to you and Vicky,” Lydia said with a little more animation than he did. Lowering the handset, she punched the Talk button again, cutting off any more words from him.

With the phone still in her hand, she returned to the small bathroom, tears streaming down her young face. She lifted the white plastic stick that was on the vanity. Lydia’s breath caught in her throat when she saw the bright blue positive sign on the EPT stick. She dropped it into the waste basket, brought up the phone and punched in the speed dial number for her Gynecologist.

“Hello, yes, this is Lydia Paulson. I would like to make an appointment to see Dr. Hudson. I think I am a little pregnant.”