May 20, 2017

Aria trudged up the stairs of Paintin' Pottery—the venue for Rosie's birthday party—carrying a large cake box and bags of ice cream on her arms. Her daughter stayed close by her side, unhappily holding a few grocery bags full of potato chips. Although Aria wanted to host a party at her or Ezra's place since she couldn't afford to spend $15 per kid, Ezra insisted on doing something a little more special. He told her he would take care of the expenses, as long as she managed the cake and ice cream. Putting her pride aside, she agreed because Rosie deserved a special day.

In addition to Rosie's friends, Auntie Spencer and Ella promised be there to help corral children and keep the party on track. Emily and Hanna were traveling there as well; Hanna from New York and Emily from New Jersey. Ezra's mother never RSVP'd. While she saw Rosie on occasion, she was never thrilled that her son had a child out of wedlock, especially one he shared with Aria. If she were going to visit her granddaughter, it certainly would not be in a brightly-colored room full of screaming cake-covered toddlers and young children. A birthday card with a $100 bill was an appropriate substitute, she believed.

The party was held in the private room on the second floor of the building. Ezra was already there with Lindsey, waiting for Aria and Rosie to show up. When they made it to the top of the stairs, Ezra rushed over to free Aria's arms of the giant cake she was struggling to carry. He placed it on a long table covered in a bright yellow table cloth. Rosie dropped the plastic bags onto the floor.

"Rosie, can't you bring those over to the table?" Aria asked in irritation.

"No!" she yelled, then ran across the room to look at the balloons and decorations. The little girl was wearing the same floral dress she wore to her mother's graduation.

Aria sighed and put the bags of ice cream into the freezer in the back of the room, while Ezra picked up the chips and put them on the table next to the cake. The parents wanted their daughter to develop a sense of responsibility, but they were wise enough to choose their battles. And besides, Aria was not in the mood to fight with her daughter on this day. That morning, she'd already woken up to two job rejections in her inbox, and preferred if she could survive the rest of the day without wanting to pull her hair out.

While they waited for guests to arrive, Ezra handed Aria an envelope with her name written on the front. "What's this?" she asked, turning it over.

"Something for Mother's Day," he told her, grinning. Mother's Day was the previous weekend, and while he sent her a text for the occasion, he hadn't been able to give her a gift yet.

"Thank you," she said with a smile, ripping open the envelope. The card was a typical greeting card, featuring a rose on the front. On the inside were the words "Happy Mother's Day." There wasn't exactly a section for "Mother's Day Cards for Your Ex Girlfriend," so the cards they exchanged were typically boring and generic. They'd sadly only shared one Mother's Day together as a couple, the year Aria was ready to give birth any day. Ezra had woken her up with a bouquet of roses, symbolic of the child they were about to bring into the world. Now, the roses he gave her were made of red ink printed on cardstock.

Underneath a $25 gift card to her favorite restaurant, Ezra had written a few words. "Happy Mother's Day, Aria. Our little girl is growing up to be a beautiful, creative young lady. Thank you for bringing her into the world. I can't imagine my life without her light. Love, Ezra"

Aria silently read the words, then looked up and smiled. "You didn't have to get me anything," she told him politely. "Thank you."

Ezra simply nodded in response.

Spencer appeared at the top of the stairs, holding a purple sparkly gift bag with turquoise tissue paper. "Where's my birthday twin?" she announced, pretending not to notice Rosie in the back of the room. Rosie whipped her head at the sound of Spencer's voice and sprinted across the room. Spencer quickly put the bag beside her and waited for Rosie, who jumped into her arms and nearly strangled her with a hug. After a moment, Rosie wiggled out of her aunt's arm, silently asking to be put down. Once on her feet, she grabbed the bag and ripped out a piece of tissue paper.

"Rosie, that's for later," Aria told her sternly. "You can put it on the table with the pink tablecloth." Rosie whined and grabbed the gift bag, then followed her mother's orders.

"Happy Birthday, Spence," Aria greeted, giving her a hug. "Thank you for helping out today. I know it's probably not on the top of your list."

"Yeah, well, I'm recently very available," she said, having broken up with her boyfriend of two years a few weeks prior. "And Hanna and Emily are an hour away. They had to stop because Hanna was starving."

Aria nodded, knowing how hunger had controlled her when she was pregnant as well. "It's going to be so weird seeing her so pregnant," she mused.

"It was weird seeing you pregnant," Spencer brought up. "Whenever I look at photos from back then, it's like I'm looking at another person."

"Well, I kinda was…" Aria trailed off, biting her lower lip. "A different person, I mean."

Spencer smiled sadly. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

"No, I know what you meant," Aria said, brushing it off. Sensing Spencer's guilt, Aria grinned and added, "I was huge."

Spencer broke out into a smile again, happy to know Aria wasn't offended. Rosie ran back to her auntie and grabbed her hand, tugging her in the opposite direction. "Where are we going?" Spencer asked, stumbling over her own feet.

"Opening presents!" Rosie squealed.

Aria stood by and watched as Rosie took her best friend prisoner, enjoying it a little too much. "You can start helping out by handling this one," she told her friend, laughing as Spencer was being led across the room.


Rosie dipped her paintbrush into the purple paint and messily covered part of her piggy bank in the color, then dipped the same brush in blue and covered another part. She didn't bother cleaning the brush in between colors, resulting in a masterpiece unique to Rosie. With a curl falling into her eyes, she instinctively pushed it back, adding a dab of blue-purple paint to her forehead. As messy as she was, she was focused on painting the perfect piggy bank.

Across from Rosie, Aria carefully painted a haunting landscape onto a large plate. The fields and trees were black, white, and grey, but the roses were various shades of red. The painting component of the party was meant for the children, but the 23-year-old couldn't resist the desire to paint a plate of her own. She found it calming in the chaos of loud children that surrounded her.

Hanna was sitting behind her at another table, with Spencer, Emily, and Lindsey gathered around. When Lindsey told Hanna she was expecting as well, the two mothers-to-be quickly bonded over their pregnancies.

"Wait until you're as big as I am," Hanna warned Lindsey, placing a hand on her nearly full-term baby bump. "There are very limited fashion labels that design cute maternity clothes. After I have this baby, I'm forcing my company to design fashionable maternity clothes."

"Hanna, you're only an administrative assistant," Emily reminded her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The most influence you have is picking out colors for the folders you use to organize your boss's legal documents."

Hanna rolled her eyes, then brushed Emily's hand away. "It can't hurt to send them a persuasive email. If we can design cute clothes for dogs, we can design cute clothes for pregnant women."

"Or maybe you should just accept that pregnancy is a temporary phase when you'll have to suck it up and wear normal maternity clothes?" Spencer suggested, her arms crossed over her chest.

"I'd rather suck it in than suck it up, Spence," Hanna said, shooting her friend a look.

"Or you can be creative like I was, " Aria chimed in from behind them, still focused on her painting. "I used to cut up Ezra's shirts and wear them with leggings. I hated pregnancy, but that part was actually fun. You're supposed to be a fashion designer, right?"

"Caleb would probably kill her," Emily pointed out.

"This baby has turned Caleb into a complete softie, as a matter of fact. He wouldn't care," Hanna clarified, then looked over at Aria. "Thanks, Aria. I might actually do that."

"I know what you mean about your husband being a softie," Lindsey agreed, feeling comfortable around Aria's friends. "Ezra has been way too nice to me since we found out. It's like he's always walking on eggshells. I could probably get away with murder and he'd still bring me flowers."

"Caleb cried when we found out we were having a boy," Hanna told everyone. "He rarely cries. It's like he has sympathy emotions."

"Ezra cried when we had our first ultrasound," Lindsey said.

Hearing his name, Ezra escaped the dull conversation he was partaking in with one of the parents and joined his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend's friends. "It's not nice to talk about me behind my back," Ezra teased, wrapping an arm around Lindsey's shoulders.

"I was telling them how you cried when you saw the baby on the ultrasound," Lindsey explained, turning to smile at his presence.

Emily looked uncomfortably over at Aria, who was preoccupied painting a black tree. While Aria could hear them, she pretended she couldn't—or at least like she wasn't phased by it. She didn't want her friends asking her how she felt about the situation.

"I did, indeed," he told them, without denying the fact. "It's incredible to see your child on that screen. It's almost like you're meeting them for the first time, and you can see all these inevitable life-changing moments on the horizon." He held Lindsey a little tighter, then kissed her on the forehead.

Aria knew that feeling all too well, but she also knew that every life-changing moment on the horizon wasn't predictable. Sometimes the life-changing moments were more bitter than they were sweet, even after experiencing something as beautiful as welcoming a child into the world. Sometimes the happy moments were like digging for diamonds; every once in awhile she stumbled upon something beautiful, but most of it was dull and rocky.

Tuning out the conversation behind her, she dabbed her paintbrush in crimson and started filling in the roses that grew in the black and white fields. Even amongst such a dreary landscape, the roses brought light to the little world. Aria was content with how her plate was turning out. Across from her, Rosie seemed happy with her own work, even though her piggy bank was approximately 13 colors. Each color had somehow made it onto the four-year-old's face, with some caked in her hair. It was her birthday, so Aria let it slide.

"Try not to touch your face or clothes, Ro," Aria cautioned, hoping to avoid a disaster.

Aria's phone buzzed from the table, and she looked over to see a new email from Star Fish Publishing, the publishing company she recently interviewed for. Her stomach dropped as she placed her paintbrush in the cup of water, then wiped her hands on a napkin. With a deep breath, she picked up her phone and opened the message.

"Dear Aria Montgomery:

Thank you for your interest in our company. We were impressed with your qualifications, but we are sorry to inform you that we have already filled the position. This applicant had experience in children's publishing and brought extensive knowledge to Star Fish Publishing. We invite you to check back for future openings, or consider one of our internships.

-Susan Freeman

Editor

Star Fish Publishing"

Aria closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled, then opened them to look at Rosie again. What was she going to do without a way to provide for her daughter? What if Ezra used this as a reason to get full custody? The thought of having to pick up a second job in waitressing brought back difficult memories from when Rosie was a baby. It wasn't the time to consider that, at least not yet. She anxiously tucked her hair behind her ears, then picked up her paintbrush again.

"When do you find out if it's a girl or a boy?" Hanna inquired, looking at Lindsey. "Waiting for that day to roll around was the worst."

"You said wearing maternity clothes was the worst," Spencer interjected.

"Believe it or not, there's a lot of worst moments in pregnancy," Hanna said, not realizing—or caring about—her grammar mistake.

"We find out in early July," Lindsey replied. "Ezra really wants a boy, but I think Rosie would like a sister."

"I never said that," he denied.

"You've alluded to it," Lindsey said. "You said 'We already have a girl, so a boy would be nice.'"

Aria mindlessly painted the branches of a black trees, allowing her mind to race. It felt like no matter how much effort she put into a job prospect, there was always someone who was better than her. How does one climb to the top of a mountain when there's no room at the top? How does one achieve anything in life when there's someone who can easily take it away? She was getting tired of rejection emails, all of which sounded nearly exactly the same.

"Mommy," Rosie said, interrupting her train of thought. "I need yellow."

Aria looked across the table and groaned as she wasn't able to locate the color her daughter wanted. She dropped her paintbrushes in the can of water, then pushed back on her chair. She turned around and faced Ezra. "Ezra, do you mind helping Rosie while I use the restroom?"

"No, of course not," Ezra replied, eyeing her suspiciously as she walked down the stairs.


Aria took a glimpse of her face in the bathroom mirror. Besides her red eyes, she had globs of paint on one of her cheeks. Her lips curled up in a small hint of a smile, realizing she wasn't too different from her daughter.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing in the restroom when someone knocked on the door. Whenever her mind got the best of her, she always had this uncontrollable need to escape from a crowd of people. If she didn't, her emotions had a tendency to leak out of her body through her eye sockets. Getting caught doing this at her daughter's birthday party would have been embarrassing, as much as she didn't want to miss a thing.

When Aria didn't answer, the person knocked again.

"Someone's in here," she answered nervously.

"Ezra told me to look for you," Spencer said, her voice muffled on the other side of the door. Her voice suggested she was worried, but that she didn't want Aria to know she was worried. Aria knew anyway.

"Why?" Aria asked, still staring at herself in the mirror.

"He's afraid that you're upset about something."

"How would he know that?"

"Maybe because he's known you forever? Sometimes he can read you better than I can..."

Silence.

"Are you?"

Aria closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling twice. "I've just been...having a rough time," Aria admitted.

"What do you mean by 'rough time'?" Spencer asked delicately. "Like, 2013 kind of rough time?"

"No," Aria said, unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Spence. I just need a minute."

"You should probably come out soon," Spencer warned her. "Hanna really wants cake and Ezra refuses to let Rosie blow out the candles until you're out there, so Rosie and Hanna are both having meltdowns."

Aria vaguely smiled at the image of Hanna having a meltdown next to her four-year-old, and Ezra scolding the two of them.

"Did you see the broken plate out here?" Spencer wondered, moving the pieces around with her shoe. "Did you do that?"

"I knocked it over with my purse on the way in," Aria confessed. "I hope they don't have security cameras back here."

"Oh. Well, I'm heading back out," Spencer told her. "Please hurry up. Ezra really needs your help. And Rosie needs her mom to be there when she blows out the candles."

Spencer knew what it was like to not have her mother around when she blew out her candles, which suddenly made Aria feel selfish for having to escape her daughter's birthday party. She opened the door to find Spencer waiting for her and the two women shared a smile. Even though Aria had been noticeably crying, her friend pretended not to notice it.


"Happy Birthday to you,

"Happy Birthday to you,"

A chorus of voices, ranging from 3-year-olds to grown men, surrounded a table to sing to the special birthday girl. Rosie had kept her hands in front of her paint-splattered face while everyone sang to her, being shy and embarrassed in front of so many people. Her cake was a standard white sheet, featuring little paintbrushes and paint palettes with the words "Happy 4th Birthday Rosie!" Aria and Ezra stood on either side of their daughter at the head of a long rectangular table. Ezra enthusiastically sang along. Aria looked over at him and couldn't help but laugh at his theatrics.

"Happy Birthday dear Rosie,

Happy Birthday to you!"

"Make a wish!" Aria encouraged, brushing the hair out of her daughter's face. Rosie came out of hiding and looked pensive for a few moments, twisting her lips in thought, then blew out the four candles in two attempts. She smiled bashfully as everyone cheered and her parents took turns squeezing her with hugs. Aria picked up a knife and started cutting the cake while Ezra prepared to serve ice cream.

"Birthday girl is first," Ezra announced. "What kind of ice cream do you want Rosie Posie?"

"Chocolate!" she answered.

Ezra scooped the ice cream, then dropped it into the plate that Aria was holding. Aria set the plate down in front of her daughter and handed her a spoon. Rosie's parents continued the same pattern until everyone was served; Aria cut the cake while Ezra scooped the ice cream.

"Can you believe she's already four?" Ezra asked, digging into his own cake. "She was a baby last week."

"Hey," Aria said with a pout. "She still is a baby."

Ezra laughed, then wrapped his arms around her in a quick hug. "She'll be a baby forever, at least in your eyes."

"Mommy can I have more?" Rosie asked, shoving her plate into her mother's stomach. She had eaten every last crumb off her plate, including her ice cream. Rosie loved her sweets.

Aria shot Ezra a look and he responded by putting his hands up in surrender. "I can't control what genes I pass down to her," he replied, knowing exactly what her look indicated. Our kid loves cake because of you.

Aria gave in and cut a small piece of cake and placed it on Rosie's plate. It was her birthday, after all, and as they always said, anything for Rosie.


After most of the guests had already left, Aria and Ezra started collecting their things and picking up the mess that the children had caused. Lindsey assisted by watching Rosie and a few of her friends, making sure they didn't destroy the place with their tiny paint and cake covered Godzilla hands and feet.

The pottery had yet to be collected by the staff to be put in the kiln and was drying on one of the tables. Aria eyed the artwork from the children, which were evidently created from kids with a wide range of ages and skill. Some were similar to Rosie's, while others were more carefully painted, likely belonging to slightly older children from their circle of friends. Aria stumbled upon her plate, gently touching it to see if it had dried yet.

"You could probably sell that thing."

Aria looked up and was greeted by a man about Ezra's age. He was tall, but not as tall as Ezra, with light brown hair and a full beard. He wore distressed jeans and slim-fitted green t-shirt, which brought out the green in his eyes.

"Thank you," Aria said coyly, then waved her hand over everyone else's artwork. "Though I don't think I have much competition."

The man laughed. "That's true," he admitted. "But I can promise you that mine would end up looking like that one." He pointed to a bowl that appeared to have been painted by someone who could barely hold a paintbrush. "I'm Jeremy, by the way. I belong to the little blonde girl," he motioned across the room, "who has overstayed her welcome." He extended his hand.

"I'm Aria," she introduced, shaking his hand. "Rosie's mother."

"Ah, so you belong to the guest of honor," he noted.

Aria nodded. "Don't worry about your daughter. She's distracting Rosie while we clean up."

"I know how that is," he said.

"How does Rosie know your daughter?" Aria asked inquisitively. She appeared to be six or seven, too old to be enrolled in a preschool class.

"Me and Ezra were friends in high school. I found him online a year ago and realized we both ended up around Philly with kids. We met up. I brought Kaleigh. He brought Rosie," he explained. "I always assumed his girlfriend was Rosie's mother. Stupid, because now I know the girl looks just like her beautiful mother."

Aria blushed at his use of the word beautiful, although it wasn't rare for men to hit on her. When they discovered Rosie, however, it typically ended rather abruptly. Those who tried to get to know her, with the insistence that they loved kids, soon realized they didn't liked kids as much as they thought they did when Rosie served as the ultimate cockblock.

"We should have a playdate sometime," Jeremy suggested with a shrug. "Kaleigh loves to play with Rosie, but we don't get to meet up with Ezra too often."

Aria considered it. At the moment, she was so preoccupied trying to start her career, she wasn't sure she had the time and energy to devote to unnecessary people in her life. But, then again, what could one playdate hurt?

"Yeah, sure," Aria accepted. "Rosie would love that, especially now that it's almost summer."

"What are you doing next weekend?"

"Next weekend?" Aria hadn't expected him to plan a day so soon, thinking he was just throwing an idea out there into the world, with no plan to actually follow through so soon. Jeremy nodded. Aria thought about it, realizing she really didn't have any solid plans. "Miraculously, I think we're free."

"Can I put your number in my phone so we can make plans?"

"Sure."

They exchanged numbers. When Jeremy left to wrangle his child, she leaned against the wall. She could feel Ezra's eyes on her, but when she looked up at him, he was preoccupied collecting the decorations.


As always, thanks for the reviews!

I won't be updating for a little bit because I will be on vacation for the following week.

Please review!