was before her fender bender with Callum Westmore nearly eight years ago.
‘That man sweet-talked me back into bed,’ Ruby added with a huff. ‘After Helga picked up the kids.’
‘Poor you,’ Ella muttered under her breath, then bit her lip to contain the sour note of sarcasm, and the bile rising up her throat.
What was the matter with her? She’d always been so happy for Ruby and Cal. It wasn’t as if their path to true love had exactly been smooth. And as for Max and Ally and Art, Ruby and Cal’s three irrepressible children, she adored them. And adored having a special place in their lives as their favourite ‘auntie’. That relationship would only become more treasured if the possibility of a childless future became a reality.
‘Ella, is everything okay?’
She put down the icing sugar to find Ruby watching her. Far too closely. Oh, no. Had she just heard that cutting remark? How was she supposed to explain it? ‘Yes, of course...’
‘Are you sure? You’re a rather strange colour.’
‘Really, I’m perfectly—’ The gag reflex struck without warning, punching Ella’s larynx and slamming her stomach into her throat. She slapped her hand over her mouth, and raced around the counter and into the restroom—getting there just in time to lose in the toilet the tea and dry toast she’d managed to force down that morning for breakfast.
* * *
‘Okay, deep breaths.’ Ruby rubbed Ella’s spine as the nausea retreated. The cool cloth felt glorious on the back of her neck as she dragged in several deep breaths.
‘How’s your stomach? All finished puking?’
‘Yes, I think so.’ Ella pressed her hand to her belly to double-check. But her stomach seemed to have settled after the retching, the strong scent of the disinfectant in the toilet nowhere near as abrasive as the brownie scent had been earlier.
Ruby flushed the toilet and anchored her arm around Ella’s waist. ‘Good, then let’s get you more comfortable.’
By the time they’d both settled in the two armchairs at the back of the café, Ruby’s careful scrutiny had Ella’s cheeks burning.
‘Any idea what caused it?’ Ruby asked.
Ella took a moment to examine the hands she had clasped in her lap.
‘From that delightful shade of rosé on your cheeks I’m guessing you do know.’ Ruby’s hand covered hers and squeezed. ‘But you don’t want to say.’
‘It’s silly.’ Ella shrugged, forced to face her friend. ‘I’m totally overreacting to a stupid holiday fling—which didn’t mean anything.’
‘Of course it meant something. You wouldn’t have slept with him if it didn’t. You’re not the casual-sex type.’
Ella breathed a heavy sigh. ‘Kind of annoying that I didn’t figure that out before I decided to jump into bed with him for a night of casual sex, isn’t it?’ The clutching sensation in her chest was back with a vengeance. ‘I miss him. I wish I’d hung around to tell him goodbye properly. Got closure. Then maybe I could stop giving myself an ulcer thinking about him constantly.’
Ruby nodded, her expression far too intuitive. ‘All excellent points. But can I suggest another possible explanation for the puking?’
Ella frowned. Why was Ruby looking at her like that? As if she was struggling to suppress a smile. ‘There is no other—’
‘Because you’re no more the highly strung, give-yourself-an-ulcer type than you are the casual-sex type.’
‘Your point?’ Ella replied a little sharply.
‘Look, you’ve been stressing about your holiday fling for weeks, I know that. But isn’t it at all possible—given the extremely hot description you gave me of your bedroom aerobics with Captain Studly—that what we just witnessed might be something more substantial than a nervous tummy?’
‘Such as?’
‘Morning sickness.’
Ella stiffened. ‘You know that’s not possible.’
‘According to Dr Patel it isn’t impossible.’
Ella’s frown became a scowl. ‘It’s only a very slight possibility. And we used condoms the whole time.’
‘As did Cal and I before we got pregnant with Arturo,’ Ruby shot straight back.
‘It’s not the same thing.’ The sour note was back. ‘You don’t have any fertility issues.’
‘I still think you should do a pregnancy test, just to be sure.’
Ella straightened in the chair. ‘I am sure.’ Sure what the result would be. And even surer that bringing back memories of another pregnancy test that she’d taken with Ruby years before would only make her current misery seem even more insurmountable.
‘Well, I’m not.’
Ella threw up her hands. ‘Yes, well, I don’t have a pregnancy test and I don’t have time to go and get one because we open in half an hour.’ Maybe if Ruby wouldn’t listen to her, at least she’d listen to reason.
‘That’s okay, because I do.’ Reaching into her handbag, Ruby produced a blue and white chemist bag from which she pulled out a telltale pink box.
‘Where did you get that?’ Ella stared, her hurt and astonishment turning to dismay.
‘Ella, you’ve been sick three times this week now.’ Grabbing Ella’s hand, Ruby slapped the box into her palm.
Ella wanted to refuse, but as she stared at the box she felt her will power crumbling in the face of Ruby’s determination.
‘Just go pee on the stick.’ Ruby closed Ella’s fingers around the box. ‘Don’t overthink this. Whatever the result is, we’ll handle it. But denial is not the answer. I’ll wait here.’
Ella stood up, her stomach folding in on itself, as the last of her will power ebbed away on a wave of exhaustion. ‘Okay, fine, but you may be waiting a long time.’ She frowned at her best friend. ‘I am so not in the mood to pee on demand right now.’
* * *
It took fifteen torturous minutes before she could get out of the toilet.
‘I left it on the vanity in there.’ She washed her hands in the shop’s sink and dosed them with anti-bacterial gel. ‘Don’t forget to dispose of it before we open,’ she added, brushing the stupid sting of tears off her cheek.
‘Ella, don’t cry. You need to know for sure.’
She didn’t dignify that with an answer, but simply set about filling the icing bag with cream-cheese frosting. She needed to be ready for the nine a.m. rush when they opened in fifteen minutes. She so did not have time for this rubbish.
She was still busy
