done eating, call my mom and thank her for teaching me how to cook Korean food.”
The steaming bowl of porridge brought more tears to Aubrey’s eyes. Aubrey was touched by Tara’s kindness, but she shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Do you want me to bring you a straw so you can drink the damn thing?” Tara said with a steely light in her eyes. “You’d better eat and get your strength back, because I sure as hell am not going to carry you to your ob-gyn appointment.”
Aubrey’s face blanched at Tara’s words. “What? How? I didn’t have a chance to tell you.”
“You were so emotional the last few times we talked, and you’ve been throwing up at least twice a day since I brought you home. And honestly, your grapefruit-sized boobs are hard to ignore. So unless you got a boob job in Bosque Verde, my guess is you’re pregnant.” Tara’s expression softened. “I don’t know what happened between you and Landon, but you need to pull yourself together. You need to eat for the little munchkin’s sake.”
Pressing her lips together in a determined line, Aubrey nodded and dug into the chicken jook. The first bite was all it took to remind her she was starving. After two bowls of the piping-hot porridge, they made their way to the doctor’s office.
The doctor said she was about twelve weeks along and a month overdue for her first ultrasound. As he performed the exam, he explained what they were seeing and hearing. Like the baby’s heartbeat. It thundered from the speaker like a thoroughbred mustang, and Aubrey choked back a sob.
“It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard,” she whispered, too reverent to speak any louder. She spread her fingers on her tummy and listened to the life inside her.
“Bree, your jelly bean sounds like a choo-choo train,” Tara said, her voice husky from tears. “Her whole tiny body is pulsing with her heart.”
“I know. I can’t stop staring.” Aubrey traced her fingers over Jelly Bean’s image. “I’m a mom, Tara. I have a little person growing inside me.”
“A little girl,” her friend corrected. “I bet you she’s a girl.”
“Well, your next ultrasound is at the four-month mark,” said the doctor. “Would you like to know the sex of the baby then?”
“Yes. Yes, please.” Aubrey thought her heart was going to burst. For a moment, she wished Landon could’ve been there, laughing and crying beside her. The pain of his absence stole her breath until she looked at her baby again.
She felt weightless with joy and paralyzed with fear. Who wouldn’t be anxious about being a single mother? But she could do this. Aubrey couldn’t wait to share her dreams with her child. They would make mistakes together, learn together, and laugh together. They would live to the fullest together. Me and you, Jelly Bean, are going to be a family.
“Is she real?” Aubrey said through her tears. “I can’t believe she’s really inside of me.”
“She’s so beautiful,” Tara sighed, choking up with emotion again.
The doctor waited with a polite smile on his face for them to stop blubbering. He probably saw a lot of blubbering in his line of work. “Is this the first baby for the two of you?”
They paused mid-bawl and gaped at the doctor and then turned back to look at each other. When Tara wiggled her eyebrows at her, Aubrey burst out laughing.
Before the good doctor sent for their straitjackets, Tara grinned at him. “While that’s really flattering, I’m just standing in for the baby daddy.”
Hearing the word daddy almost pushed Aubrey into another sobbing fit, but she pressed her lips together.
Don’t you worry, Jelly Bean. No more crying for Mama. I’m here for you, love.
* * *
Aubrey wouldn’t have noticed the passing of time if it weren’t for her growing belly. At five months, she was showing a respectable baby bump that her loose dresses couldn’t hide anymore. Jelly Bean was doing fabulously, and Aubrey was a proud mama.
Thanks to the reality show renovation team Aria had rallied for her, the bigger, badder Comfort Zone was customer-ready literally two weeks after Aubrey came home. She freed herself from the blackhole of heartbreak after her first ultrasound, and threw herself into Comfort Zone’s big comeback. Tireless in her generosity, Aria continued to support the reopening by posting about Comfort Zone’s makeover and renovation progress on her blog.
With the new location and the hype Aria helped create, the bakery regained its out-of-town and online customers within a month of