Page 34 of Burden to Bear

Brock tipped his head to the side, confusion marring his features. “What?”

My body tensed. “You aren’t allergic to any of those ingredients, are you?”

He shook his head. “No. No, it’s just that I don’t understand. You’re telling me that you had all those ingredients in your house except for the eggs?”

I bit my lip and nodded. “Yes.”

“That’s odd. I think the eggs, sugar, butter, and salt might be all that I have here,” he noted. “So, how many batches did this make? I feel like there’s a lot on this plate.”

“Well, yeah. The recipe makes thirty cookies, and there were twenty-nine on that tray when you opened it up.”

Brock’s bewilderment was plain as day. “Are you telling me you only had one of these cookies?”

“No. I’m telling you that I attempted to eat one of these cookies before I decided I did not want any of them,” I blurted.

Damn.

I hadn’t meant to just toss it out there like that.

“I’m so confused.”

I sighed.

Maybe it was time to just come out with it.

Even if Brock was going to have negative thoughts about my situation, at least he wouldn’t think I was some weirdo that went around baking batches of cookies on a whim only to consume one bite.

“I came over this morning to ask for the eggs, because I haven’t had eggs in my house in weeks,” I explained. “I haven’t been able to eat them for breakfast recently, so I stopped buying them. I hadn’t considered I might want to bake something.”

“Did you get sick or something?”

“Something,” I confirmed.

Concern washed over him, and he took two steps in my direction. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Why did he have to be so sweet? This man barely knew me, and his uneasiness about something being wrong with me was more than Todd had shown me.

I swallowed hard, wondering if I’d be able to handle the way he’d react, and finally revealed, “I’m pregnant.”

He blinked his eyes in surprise and jerked back. “What?”

“I’m having a baby,” I said, placing my hand protectively on my slightly rounded belly.

Brock’s eyes dropped to my hand, and he stared for several long beats. Once again, I had not a clue what was going through his mind, but there was no question he was having a reaction to the news based on the way his eyes narrowed, then flared.

Unable to stand the silence, I figured I’d just throw it all out there. “I’m not sure if you recall, but right after I moved in next door, I was feeling incredibly exhausted. At the time, I thought it was all related to the stress associated with the move and unpacking and getting settled in a new place. While it’s likely that was part of it, I learned just a few days before Christmas that there was another reason.”

Something seemed to click in Brock’s mind. “Didn’t you tell Izzy that you broke up with your ex right before Christmas?”

“Not exactly,” I said, sharing more than necessary. “Yes, we split up before Christmas, but I wasn’t the one who did it.”

“Does he know?”

I hesitated a beat before I shared, “I told him on Christmas Eve. We weren’t trying to get pregnant. But it happened, and I thought we were solid enough that he’d be excited about the news. I was wrong.”

Brock took that information in, sat with it for a few seconds, and finally replied quietly, “I’m really sorry he could do that to you, Mia. I can’t imagine how lonely this must feel for you.”

I nodded first, then shrugged. “It is what it is. I’m not going to do what he wanted, which was to get rid of the baby, so this is where I’m at. I’m sorry, too. This is not your thing to deal with or be worried about. I don’t even know why I’m telling you. I guess… I was worried you were going to think I was a lunatic for baking a batch of cookies and giving them all away.”

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