have thought you’d want to keep it quiet …’
‘Rob, these girls are the most important people in my life,’ she declares. ‘Why wouldn’t I want to share it with them?’
Rob is momentarily stuck for words. Because it’s too early, anything could happen …
‘Wouldn’t it be more, er … comfortable if I wasn’t here?’ He checks his watch, willing her to say yes.
‘No, of course it wouldn’t.’ Nadine sighs, fixing him with those gorgeous blue eyes which have the effect of stirring something within him, despite the almighty mess he’s found himself in. ‘Last night was really nice,’ she offers hesitantly, touching his arm.
‘Yes, it was.’ He musters a smile.
‘You were very sweet.’
‘Er … thank you.’ This doesn’t mean I’m ready to meet your friends en masse … He swallows hard. While he’s slowly getting used to Nadine’s extreme youth, the thought of spending an evening with a bunch of similarly-aged girls is quite terrifying. What will they talk about – clubbing, the tribulations of teenage complexions or, heaven forbid, chart music? The Top 20 hasn’t bothered Rob’s consciousness for at least a decade.
‘Come on, Rob,’ she chides him, ‘cheer up. This is a special night for me – a sort of celebration. And they’re so looking forward to meeting you.’
‘Really?’ He frowns.
‘Of course they are! We’re going to be parents, Rob, and they want to share that.’ Her eyes sparkle like sequins.
Although it’s tempting to snatch his phone from his pocket and announce some fictional crisis, he forces a grin and says, ‘Okay, if you’re sure.’
‘Great, I’m so pleased. You know, you’re not nearly as stuffy as people think.’
*
‘You’re adorable, Rob,’ Sasha gushes as he stands in the middle of Nadine’s living room, clutching two drinks.
‘Gorgeous,’ agrees Jade, pulling up her knees to her chin on the sofa and exposing several miles of tanned limb beneath a diaphanous turquoise dress.
‘I told you, he’s not so bad,’ Nadine says fondly, while Harriet flops a head onto her shoulder. Sasha, Jade and Harriet are Nadine’s friends from ‘way, way back’ – which probably means about eighteen months, Rob surmises. Unlike Nadine, with her chic make-up and neat crop, these girls are all of the glossy-lipped, swishy blonde hair variety, like some girl group thrown together for a TV talent show. Rob feels as if he has accidentally stumbled into a branch of Claire’s Accessories.
‘I can’t believe you’re having a baby, Nads,’ Sasha announces, clutching her pink glass. ‘It’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life.’
I very much doubt that, Rob thinks darkly, crunching a cashew.
‘It’s amazing,’ gushes Jade. ‘How d’you feel, Rob? Are you so excited?’
‘Of course,’ Rob replies. ‘It’s absolutely terrific.’
Harriet giggles. ‘You’re going to have an adorable little baby. Look at the pair of you – you’re so lovely together. I know it’s all happened really quickly but don’t you think,’ – she looks around at the others – ‘that some things are just meant to be?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ Jade declares, already appearing a little tipsy as she drains her glass. The girls are drinking ‘Pink Ginger’, a mocktail of Nadine’s invention consisting of ginger beer (to counteract nausea), elderflower and rhubarb cordials, plus a generous splosh of vodka for her friends. To Rob’s mind, it tastes like liquid seaside rock.
Jade fixes her large, rather scary kohl-rimmed grey eyes on Rob. ‘So what names are you thinking of?’
‘Er, we haven’t yet,’ he replies.
‘How about Joshua?’ Harriet offers. ‘I always thought Joshua was sweet, or Freddie …’
Nadine laughs huskily while Rob busies himself by straightening up the little bowls of snacks on the low table. ‘He has a Freddie already,’ Nadine explains, ‘so that’s kind of out.’
‘Whoops,’ Jade giggles, clasping a hand over her mouth.
‘I like those natural names,’ Sasha muses, ‘like Summer or Autumn or Rain …’
‘Hail would be good,’ Rob mutters under his breath, striding back to the kitchen. ‘Or Thunder. Yep, Thunder Tambini has a certain ring …’ He blinks at the open shelves Nadine has arranged with all manner of quirky ‘finds’, as she calls them: little tin vehicles, a green crocheted frog, a glass paperweight with Dolly Mixture sweets trapped inside. While he found her single-girl’s flat a tad too cutesy for his taste on his first visit, it now feels claustrophobic. Horribly un-baby-friendly, too, with all her itsy-bitsy chokeable trinkets all over the place. Rain, he reflects. Great, if you want your child to be in psychotherapy by age six.
He is a little drunk, too, he realises now as he leans back against the baby-blue fridge. The kitchen is strewn with fairy lights – it’s like being in a bloody grotto – and Rob is overwhelmed by a pang of missing his old life. He craves Kerry and his children, all crammed around the slightly too-small table in their old kitchen in Bethnal Green, with its naff faux-teak units and the children’s drawings Blu-Tacked wonkily all over the cupboards.
The unrecognisable music has been turned up now, and the girls are shouting to be heard over it. He rejoins the group and tries, gamely, to join in, but they keep talking over each other and it becomes impossible to follow their conversational threads without bellowing, ‘Sorry, what did you say?’ like some wizened old man with an ear trumpet.
Escaping to the bathroom, Rob lands heavily on the loo seat and fishes out his phone from his pocket. Without considering what he’s doing, he calls Kerry’s number.
‘It’s me,’ he whispers.
‘Rob? What d’you want?’
‘Um …’ He realises he has no idea what he intended to say. He just wanted – no, needed – to hear her voice. ‘I er … wanted to say sorry for being so negative about the dog thing. Just wondered if the kids were excited when they met him?’ He puts his head in his hands, realising that what he really wanted to say was, I love you, Kerry. I love you so much and I want you back.
‘Hmmm,’ Kerry murmurs. ‘Yes, of course they were delighted. They’ll tell you all about it tomorrow and you’ll see him – Buddy – when you pick them up. Don’t worry, though – he’s been briefed not to home in on your crotch.’
‘That’s good, haha.’
There’s a small, tense pause. ‘Where are you?’
‘Um … at, er … the flat.’ He clears his throat. ‘Nadine’s place …’
‘Sounds like a party.’
‘It’s … a sort of girls’ night
