“I blew it,” Aria groaned. Since she knew there was no possible way she would get the job at Devry Media, Aria decided she couldn’t skip her shift at the restaurant that night. So, even though her feet were tired, and her ego was bruised, she went into work and spent the night hustling and bustling from one table to the next. In between each set of customers, Aria tried to explain to Joan just how badly the interview had ended.
Joan clucked her tongue and pushed Aria aside gently so she could slide in front of the POS machine. “It couldn’t have been that bad.” She typed in an order of mozzarella sticks and two glasses of strawberry lemonade, then she turned to look at Aria, her blond ponytail nearly whapping Aria in the face.
Aria took a step back and ran a hand along the front of her apron. “It was. It was as bad as you can imagine… even worse.”
Joan shook her head. “I don’t believe you. You said everything was great until Mr. Wonderful walked in the room. What could you have possibly done when he came in that made you feel like that ruined everything else that came before?”
Aria sighed and slumped against the weigh station. “I was supposed to ask the panel questions about the position, and even though I had at least half a dozen written down, I clammed up. My tongue tied, and I could barely speak.”
“That’s not so bad,” Joan commented, turning so she could lean up against the countertop next to Aria. “I’ve heard of people getting so nervous during interviews they accidentally say curse words, or they belch unexpectedly. At least you didn’t do anything like that.”
“Yes,” Aria agreed, “I guess it could have been worse. He could have walked in the door, and I could have announced, ‘Look, it’s the father of my baby.’ That would have been awful.”
Joan gave Aria a sympathetic look. “That would have been very embarrassing, I agree, but it probably isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.”
“How do you figure?” Aria returned, feeling perplexed by Joan’s nonchalance.
“Well… when you first found out you were pregnant, you knew the father of the baby, but at that time, you only knew his first name. Now, not only do you know whose baby you’re carrying, but you know exactly who he is and precisely where to find him.” Joan craned her neck then and peeked at her table that was a few paces away. The restaurant was set to close in a few minutes, so the couple was merely lingering over a shared cannoli.
“That doesn’t matter,” Aria responded. “I never plan to tell Ethan about the baby.”
“Why not?” Joan asked, squinting thoughtfully at Aria behind her glasses. “I mean… I understood when you couldn’t tell him before… but now? What’s to stop you?”
Aria sighed. “I don’t want a man in my life just because I’m giving birth to his child. I can handle this situation on my own.”
“Can you?” Joan questioned.
Aria threw her an annoyed look. “No,” she moaned. “I really needed that job at Devry. Even with that job, I was probably going to need to keep working here for a little bit. I’m so far behind on bills, and I’ll need extra money to buy things for the baby…” Her words trailed off as she became overwhelmed by the situation.
“Hey,” Joan said, elbowing Aria in the side of her arm. “Cheer up. You’ve still got me.”
“I know, and you’re amazing. Really, the best friend I could ask for,” Aria added. She really did feel thankful for Joan. It seemed that no matter what kind of curve balls life threw in her direction, she could count on Joan to be standing right there beside her, saying something positive.
“You could always look for other jobs,” Joan said, as if she had just come up with the idea.
Aria nodded. “I know. I know I’m going to have to keep working here, but also searching for marketing jobs. It’s what I do… or at least it’s what I want to do. I didn’t go to grad school and get myself into a tremendous amount of debt just so I could keep on waiting tables here.” She gestured around the restaurant. She and Joan had been having a rather long discussion, and she noticed that a few of her remaining customers needed drink refills. “Excuse me,” Aria mumbled, and she picked up a water pitcher from the weigh station.
She made the rounds of her tables, grateful that no one wanted anything more complicated than another round of ice waters. Aria returned to the weigh station, and a moment later, Joan joined her once more. She punched in a few commands so she could get the check for her customers and then she gave Aria a small smile.
“I know things seem pretty bleak, but if worse comes to worst, you could always come and stay with me.”
“What?” Aria asked. She had been lost in her own thoughts, and she didn’t remember telling Joan about her issues with paying rent.
“I’m just saying… I know you’ve been struggling to make rent, so if you need to move out and come live with me for a little while, I’d be happy to accommodate you.” Joan gave Aria a pleasant smile then, and Aria felt her heart warm.
“I don’t remember telling you I couldn’t keep up with my rent,” Aria whispered softly.
“That’s what people call pregnancy brain,” Joan said, tapping Aria lightly on the side of her head. “You’ve only mentioned it three times tonight.”
“I’m sorry,” Aria replied. “I can’t believe I’m forgetting things. Maybe I wasn’t so great at my interview as I thought.”
“No,” Joan replied, “I’m sure you were great.”
Now that Aria thought about it, though, she felt uneasy.
What if I was a mess the entire time? What if I said something absurd or mentioned that I was pregnant and worried about paying my rent? Maybe Ethan did me a favor coming into the room when he did.
“Do you have a stomachache again?” Joan asked, looking Aria over closely.
Aria followed Joan’s gaze, and she noticed that she had started clutching her stomach. She quickly dropped her hand. “No,” she shook her head.
“Let me ask you a question,” Joan began, “If you could do the interview over right now, what would you do differently?”
“What do you mean?” Aria asked. She thought back over every aspect of the day from start to finish. She pictured herself wearing that red suit. She thought of the way her hair wouldn’t cooperate and how she wished she could have fixed it differently. She even recalled the way she had started the interview, feeling rather shy about being there.
“I mean,” Joan replied, “If I told you I could grant you one wish… you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change?”
Aria groaned heavily. “I hate that kind of question.”
“What?” Joan laughed. “No one hates that question. Wish fulfillment. Got to love it. You have the chance to go back in time and redo something. For you, it could be so simple. You could just wish to go back to that board room and start over with Ethan. When he walked in the door you could be cool, calm, and adorably confident. He could be the one who stammered and stuttered in your presence.”
“Hey, I never said I stammered or stuttered,” Aria said.
“Fine,” Joan returned. “Forgive me for embellishing some of the details a little. I just thought the story could be so much better if you had done something more than run out of there.”
Aria shook her head. “You want to know the really awful thing?”
“Of course,” Joan replied instantly.
“If you offered to grant me one wish, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I don’t know if the failed interview at Devry today would even rank on my list of things I would most like to change about my life. Don’t get me wrong,” Aria added hurriedly, “I still really want that job, and I hate that I blew it, but I think I’m just beginning to realize that what people say is true. In the matter of a minute, everything can change unexpectedly.”
“How so?” Joan questioned, arching her eyebrow at Aria.
“Well, I lost Landen at a moment’s notice.”
Joan sneered. “Not such a big loss there if you ask me.”
Aria shrugged. “We dated for two years. Even though I fell out of love with him a while ago, I still would have liked our relationship to end more amicably.”
“True,” Joan allowed. “But you can’t tell me that you would really want to use your one wish to make up with Landen just so you could dump him on your own terms.”
“You’re right,” Aria agreed. “That would not be the best way to use my wish. But let’s look at other moments that have massively overhauled my life. I went out dancing one night and met a man who was good-looking and polite. I spent one night with him. Just the one. And after one night with Ethan, I wound up pregnant. My entire life is going to change because one night I made a decision, and that choice is going to haunt me for the rest of my days.”
“Ugh,” Joan frowned. She reached up and fluffed her ponytail. “You make it seem so dark. This is your chance to make a wish. Why don’t you come up with something fantastic?”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t seem to get in the right frame of mind,” Aria responded, and her shoulders slumped miserably.
Joan inhaled deeply. “I know you’re upset about losing the job today, but this conversation has been a real bummer. You’ve got to look on the bright side.”
“Bright side? Yes, please,” Aria begged, “tell me: what is the bright side?”
“Well, for starters, I just offered you the chance to come stay at my place. We can be roommates!”
Aria laughed. “Roommates! I hadn’t thought of it that way. It will be nice to have someone else around again.”
“That’s the spirit,” Joan said, encouragingly. “You’ll have to submit a notice to your landlord, but as you’re behind on rent, I’m sure he won’t mind if you move out pretty quickly.”
“Sure,” Aria sighed, “he’ll be eager to get a paying customer in there.”
“Hey, hey,” Joan chirped, “No more negative thoughts. We’re looking on the bright side here, remember?”
“Right,” Aria responded. She smiled weakly at her friend. “I’ll try to remember that. Okay, so let’s make some plans that won’t make me feel so incredibly bad about myself.”
“How soon do you think you can get out of your lease?” Joan asked, her eyes brightening incrementally.
Aria laughed. “I don’t know. I could probably talk to my landlord tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow. Perfect,” Joan grinned. The doorbell to the restaurant jingled, and Aria assumed it was just a few of the final customers clearing out for the night.
“Have a good evening! Come back and see us again real soon!” she called over her shoulder. She lowered her head toward the POS machine then and started tallying up the night’s total dollars earned, as well as counting out her tips.
“Sorry, we’re closed,” Joan added, untying the strings of her apron, and flopping it heavily on the countertop.
“That’s okay. I figured as much,” a deep, masculine voice replied.
Aria startled slightly and dropped the receipts she had been holding.
I know that voice.
Joan made a funny noise in the back of her throat and then she stood on her tiptoes and looked over the edge of the weigh station. She tugged excitedly at Aria’s shirt. “You’re not going to believe this,” she whispered hoarsely.
Aria also stood on tiptoe then, and she peered toward the door. Instantly, her heart started hammering in her chest and instinctively, her hand flew to cover her stomach. “Ethan?” Aria asked, stepping from behind the weigh station. She dropped her hand from her abdomen and strode purposefully toward where he was standing near the doorway. “What are you doing here?”