Tessa’s gynecological appointment begins as an effort to prevent an unplanned pregnancy and ends with an uncertain warning about her ability to have children. The test confirms that she is not pregnant, and she chooses a contraceptive shot; but an examination raises a concern about her cervix, forcing her to confront a possibility she had thought she could accept. The episode makes reproductive choice both practical and intimate: Tessa is trying to protect her plans, while the prospect of infertility unsettles her despite the lack of a diagnosis.

Background and Decision

The appointment follows a pattern of unprotected sex with Hardin. During an earlier discussion in the bath, he stands up in alarm at the thought that Tessa could have become pregnant. He connects a baby to the disruption of her plan to move to Seattle, revealing how readily the possibility of pregnancy becomes entangled with their future plans. Later, after Tessa puts a handful of plugs into the car’s glove compartment, Hardin tells her she needs birth control and acknowledges that they have been careless. Tessa says she has been meaning to make a doctor’s appointment, but getting one through student insurance has been difficult. The visit therefore reflects not only a personal decision but the practical obstacle of accessing care.

Tessa arrives on Monday morning half an hour early. The waiting room is nearly full, with crying children and coughing women, and its only magazine is a parenting journal crowded with diaper advertisements and breastfeeding advice. The surroundings sharpen the subject she would rather keep at a distance. A woman mistakes her for being pregnant after noticing her stomach; when the woman apologizes and jokes about the assumptions people make before becoming mothers, Tessa feels some relief at their shared discomfort. Still, the encounter draws her thoughts toward a future she does not want to consider: if she wants a life with Hardin, she thinks, she will never be a mother.

The Examination and Its Results

Despite being on her period, Tessa feels nervous about the pregnancy test. She fears that an unplanned pregnancy could derail the life she wants and push Hardin over the edge. After she provides a urine sample, a nurse checks her temperature and blood pressure and brings her to an examination room. Tessa had hoped for a female doctor, but Dr. West seems amiable. His questions are embarrassing: she has to explain that she and Hardin have had unprotected sex more than once, while forcing herself to maintain eye contact. When the nurse brings the test result, Dr. West tells her she is not pregnant. Tessa releases a breath she had not realized she was holding.

With the immediate concern resolved, Dr. West outlines contraceptive options, and Tessa settles on the shot. The visit does not end with that reassuring result, however. During a pelvic examination, Dr. West comments that the size of her cervix concerns him and says he wants to see her again for further testing. He stresses that he cannot be certain from this examination, notes that he sees no cysts, and identifies infertility only as the worst-case scenario—not as a diagnosis. He recommends blood tests, gives her the shot that day, and schedules a follow-up. Tessa hears the qualification, but the word infertility overwhelms it; she is left unable to speak, with her heart hammering in the quiet room.

Waiting and Consequences

The nurse explains that, because Tessa is on her period, the shot will be effective immediately, though she should wait three days before having unprotected sex to be safe. It will not protect her from sexually transmitted diseases. After arranging the follow-up, Tessa goes downtown to take a passport photo and complete paperwork. The appointment’s practical purpose is thus accompanied by the next step in her plans to travel to England, but the medical uncertainty follows her into the rest of the day.

On the street, Tessa feels as though everyone she passes is pregnant or carrying a child. Her follow-up is not for another three weeks, and she expects to spend the interval obsessing over the possibility that she may not be able to become pregnant. She had thought she had partly come to terms with not having children; the strength of her reaction shows that this acceptance was incomplete. She does not tell Hardin about the concern because she does not yet know what it means, and she doubts it would change his plans anyway. Instead, she texts him that the appointment went well, resolving to avoid the subject until she has more information. Her excitement about going to England coexists with the hollowness she tries to ignore.

Relationship and Significance

The appointment also exposes a difference between Tessa’s bodily concerns and Hardin’s responses. When Tessa later mentions that her gynecologist is a man, Hardin reacts with irritation and jealousy; the detail that matters to him is the doctor’s gender, while Tessa has been dealing with the examination, contraception, and uncertainty about fertility. This contrast reinforces how easily conversations about her reproductive care become bound up with their relationship.

The scene does not resolve whether Tessa is infertile. Its decisive medical facts are narrower: the pregnancy test is negative, the shot is administered, no cysts are seen, and Dr. West wants further testing because of the cervix’s size. The unresolved three-week wait gives that uncertainty emotional force. Tessa’s fear is not proof of a diagnosis, but neither does the doctor’s reassurance erase it; the episode leaves her balancing her immediate wish to avoid pregnancy, her plans for independence, and a newly unsettled hope or fear about motherhood.