“Done. I’ll be over in half an hour.” Stacy hung up, and Bella returned to cooking. Her hectic catering schedule left little time for friends, but she and Stacy had known each other since they were kids, and they stuck around for each other. Hanging out with Stacy would take Bella’s mind off Luke, which was what she needed.
Unfortunately, when Stacy arrived,shehad dating on her mind.
“I think it’s time for you to get out there again,” Stacy said, tossing her jacket onto Bella’s shoe rack. Stacy, for all her good qualities, wasn’t very neat. Her house had T-shirts flung over chairs, and mugs in the living room, whereas Bella’s small apartment was always clean and tidy.
Bella rolled her eyes. “No, thank you.”
“Come on. Michael and I were talking the other night, and we think it’d be good for you.”
“Oh, well, if Michael says it…” Bella rolled her eyes again, jokingly this time. “Seriously, I’m fine, no matter what you and your fiancé think. Now come in and sit down.”
“Well, it’s just…” Stacy sighed as she flopped onto Bella’s couch. Bella lived in a cramped one-bedroom, so she was able to go back into the kitchen to finish the dinner while still close enough to talk to her friend. “I’m worried you’ve closed yourself off.”
“I have,” Bella said. “That’s no secret.” She turned off the burner and ladled the chana masala she’d been making onto the fluffy cumin rice.
“Come on,” Stacy moaned. “You’re only thirty-four. You’ve got time. You could still fall in love.”
Immediately, Bella’s mind went to Luke, but she quickly shut those thoughts down. It wasn’t like she was inlovewith him. They’d had a one-night stand, that was all, and Bella needed to move on.
“Dinner’s ready,” Bella said, instead of any of that. Stacy sat up, and Bella put their plates on the coffee table. She had a fold-outdining table next to the kitchen, but it was a lot of work to set up, and this was easier.
“Smells great.” Stacy took a big bite, then waved her hand in front of her mouth. “Spicy!”
“Too spicy?”
“No, it’s good. But you can’t change the subject, even with your delicious food. You should at leasttry.”
Bella reached for her own plate. She hadn’t told her friend about Luke — she knew Stacy would want her to contact him and would probably get too excited. Bella knew she should confide in Stacy, but she didn’t. It was easier to handle this situation on her own, without telling anyone else.
Taking a bite of her food, Bella winced. “Oh, something is off about this.” Her stomach flipped. “Really off.” She set her plate down and sipped some water.
“Really? Is too spicy?” Stacy took another big bite. “I like it.”
“No, it’s just… oof.” Bella took a slow breath as her nausea rose up. “Give me a minute.”
“Are you sick?” Stacy asked, setting her plate down. She looked at Bella, her forehead creased with concern.
“No, I—” Bella cut herself off, and her eyes widened. Her heart racing, she counted back four weeks… then two more. She hadn’t had her period in a month and a half. It could have been the stress of all the catering, but there was the nausea, too. And there was the fact that she’d spent the night with Luke four weeks ago. They’d been careful, but still…
“I’m fine,” Bella said. She wanted nothing more than to tell her friend what she was thinking about, but she couldn’t. As much as she cared about Stacy, she didn’t ever want to have to lean on her friend. If she was pregnant, somehow she would need to handle it herself. Just like she handled everything herself.
And anyway, she could be wrong. Maybe she wasn’t pregnant. Maybe she just had a touch of stomach flu, or maybe something reallywasoff with the dinner, even though Stacy liked it.
“If you’re sure…” Once Bella reassured her she was really feeling okay, Stacy talked a bit more about how Bella should date and how her and Michael’s wedding planning was going — she was going to hire Bella as her caterer. Bella felt better after drinking some water and was able to slowly eat a little more while chatting with her friend. She talked a little about the client she was meeting with later this week, a famous local influencer named Tabi Sloan who was holding a huge wedding in April in a converted barn, and Stacy urged her to take a picture with Tabi.
Eventually, it got late, and Bella walked Stacy out. Then she practically ran the three blocks to the nearest drugstore, even forgetting her jacket in her haste and shivering in the chill November air. Pregnancy test in hand, she raced back to her apartment and shut herself in the closet-sized bathroom.
Her hands were shaking as she took the test out of the cardboard box and read the instructions. Once the test was ready, she set it on the counter and stared down at it, her heart beating so fast, she was sure it would wake the neighbors though the paper-thin walls of her apartment.
The instructions said she’d need to wait two minutes, but that wasn’t the case. Almost as soon as she set the test down, two very clear pink lines appeared in the window.
Bella stared at the test for a long moment, just to be sure, then sank onto the edge of the bathtub.
“I’m pregnant,” she said aloud into the empty room. Her voice echoed back to her, bouncing off the tiles. “I’m going to be a mother.” A soft laugh escaped her lips. “I’m having a baby.”
Then she was laughing, a hand pressed to her heart. She could barely believe it. She and Luke had spent one night together, one single, wonderful night, and somehow, she was expecting a baby. Bella should have been upset — a baby with a man she didn’t really know would complicate her life in thousands of ways. Not least of all, becoming a mother would jeopardize the business she’d poured her heart and soul into for years. And she’d have to face Luke again.
Yet Bella wasn’t upset. She washappy.She could already picture holding a tiny baby in her arms, rocking him back and forth as his eyelids drifted closed, and smelling his baby-powder scent. She could imagine holding her toddler’s hand as she learned to walk, her tiny feet encased in pink tennis shoes as she beamed up at Bella. She could imagine dropping her kindergartener off on his first day of school, and moving her college student into her dorm.
