“Are you going to tell us what happened?” Sophie asked, eyes bright with excitement.

Aria tilted her head toward the shopping bags in the corner of the room, and they followed her gaze. Most were tied shut, and it was impossible to tell what was inside them, but a teddy bear was peeking out the top of one bag, and a bassinet stood behind them.

“Holy shit,” Avery breathed, her eyes darting from the bags to Aria and back again. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Aria rubbed a hand over her belly and nodded. “I’m pregnant.”

“Oh. My. God.” Sophie was gobsmacked. Her eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and she squealed. “Wow! You’re having a baby! I’m going to be an aunty.” She froze, her grin fixed. “Wait. Is this something we’re excited about, or something we’re horrified about?”

Aria shrugged. “I was horrified at first, but I’m excited now. A bit scared. Make that terrified. I don’t know how to be a mum.” Wasn’t that the truth? But she had the best role model. If she could emulate her mother, she’d be great.

Sophie squealed again, and Avery looked at her in disgust. “Get hold of yourself.”

“I always knew you’d be first!” Sophie cried, engulfing Aria in a surprisingly tight hug, considering her slight frame. Aria and Avery exchanged glances. They’d always expected Sophie to be the first to get pregnant.

“Are you calling me a loose woman?” Aria asked teasingly.

“Yeah, right,” Sophie scoffed. “You love kids, babe. It makes sense you’d want one before the rest of us.”

“Three guesses who the father is,” Avery remarked.

Sophie hugged her again. “It’s Eli Lockwood, isn’t it?”

Aria nodded. With all she’d been doing, she’d forgotten his involvement for a few hours, but now she remembered the way he’d held her when she’d told him she was pregnant. Tears welled up, and she willed them to stay where they were.

“Aww, honey,” Sophie soothed, rubbing her back. “Does he know?”

“Of course he knows,” Avery said. “He would have been the first person she told.”

“Yes,” Aria confirmed. “I’d never keep him in the dark.”

“Are you together?” Avery asked.

Aria was glad her friend’s scowl was fixed on the wine rather than her. “No.”

“Why not?” Now Avery shifted her steady gaze to Aria, who squirmed in her seat.

“It wasn’t like that between us,” she said. “We didn’t have a relationship. We had a fling. Something I shouldn’t have let happen in the first place.”

“But you want more.”