By the time I make it downstairs to The Bluebell Bakery, I've almost convinced myself I'm fine. That this is just another challenge to overcome, another item to add to my ever-growing to-do list. Get flour. Order more peppermint extract. Grow a human being inside my body.
No big deal.
The morning rush keeps me busy enough that I almost forget about the test wrapped in tissue paper on the bathroom counter. Almost. But every time I lean over to pull a tray from the oven, there's this flutter in my stomach. Too early to be the baby, probably just nerves. That flutter reminds me that everything's changed.
I'm arranging lemon cookies in the display case when the bell above the door chimes. I don't have to look up to know it's Ella.She has this presence, a kind of chaotic energy that precedes her into every room.
"Morning, sunshine!" Her voice is too cheerful for nine AM, but that's Ella. She's probably already on her second coffee and third existential thought of the day. "I brought reinforcements." She holds up a paper bag from Laney's diner. "Bacon sandwiches, because I dreamed about them last night and..."
She stops mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing as she studies me across the counter.
"What?" I try for casual, but even I can hear the strain in my voice.
"Something's different." She sets the bag down slowly, like she's approaching a skittish animal. "Your aura is... weird."
"My aura is fine." I turn back to the cookies, arranging them with more concentration than they require. "Besides, I don't have an aura. We've been over this."
"Everyone has an aura, Sam. Yours is usually this lovely shade of... wait, are you pregnant?"
My hand freezes mid-reach for another cookie. "What? No. That's... how would you even..."
"Oh, my God, you are!" Ella rushes around the counter, invading my space in that way only she can get away with. "I can see it. There's this... glow. No, not a glow, more like a shimmer? Like you're vibrating at a slightly different frequency than the rest of..."
"I'm pregnant." The words burst out before I can stop them, and suddenly I'm crying, right there in the middle of my bakery with a tray of iced cookies watching me fall apart.
Ella doesn't say anything for a moment. She just pulls me into a hug that smells like jasmine and coffee and home.
"It's Nick's," I whisper against her shoulder. "Nick, who just... disappeared. And I have no way to find him, and I'm goingto be a single mom, and I don't even know what I'm doing, and..."
"Hey, hey." Ella pulls back, gripping my shoulders and forcing me to meet her eyes. "We're going to get through this. You and me. You're not alone, okay? You're never alone."
I nod, swiping at my tears with the back of my hand. "I'm keeping it."
"Of course you are." She smiles, fierce and protective. "And we're going to figure it out. All of it. Together." Her expression darkens slightly. "But if I ever see Nick again? I'm going to kill him. I don't care how big and strong and muscular he is. I'll find a way."
I groan, dropping my forehead to her shoulder. "Did you have to remind me? Now I'm thinking about his arms again."
"Sorry." She squeezes me once more before releasing me. "But seriously, what kind of guy just vanishes? It's so..."
The bell chimes again, interrupting Ella's rant. An elderly woman I've never seen before shuffles in.
"I'll get it," Ella murmurs, giving me a moment to collect myself.
But something makes me step forward instead. "No, I've got it."
The woman approaches the counter, and before she can speak, words spill from my mouth. Words I didn't plan, didn't think about.
"You want the apple turnover," I hear myself say, my voice strange and distant. "Warmed, with a small hot chocolate. Not too hot. And you'd like it in a to-go bag because you're taking it to your husband at the hospital. He's been asking for something sweet, something that reminds him of home."
The woman's eyes widen, her hand flying to her chest. "How did you... I didn't even..."
I blink, coming back to myself. "I... I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. I just..."
"That's exactly right." Her voice is barely a whisper. "All of it. Down to the size of the chocolate. Henry, my husband, he's been in the hospital for three days and I..." Tears fill her eyes. "How did you know?"
I shake my head, my own hands trembling as I reach for the tongs. "I don't know. I just... knew."
Ella's staring at me like I've sprouted wings, but she stays quiet as I prepare the order exactly as I described it. The woman pays, thanks me three times, and leaves with the kind of wonder in her expression that makes my chest feel tight.
