Long before I reach the walking group’s meeting point, I see her straight blonde hair and bright blue coat sticking out among the sea of browns and olives that ebbs and flows around her. On Instagram, she’s posted a collage of shots she took on our shopping trip ‘#new friends’ and I’m on top of the world. I sneak up behind her.
‘Do you come here often, young lady?’ I say in my creepiest voice. She spins around defensively, almost as if she’s going to strike out, then her face softens as she realizes it’s me.
‘Hey. Morning! No sign of lover-boy today so it looks like you’re stuck with me.’
‘Oh, I suppose I’ll survive!’ I say, rolling my eyes to hide how pleased I am that I’ll get her to myself.
A few minutes later we set off. The others fall into groups and we tag along near the back of the raggle-taggle string. Anna takes a quick picture of a squirrel that’s unusually close to the path.
‘Instagram!’ she sings, slipping her phone back into her pocket.
‘So, how’s Rob?’ I say, taking deep breaths of the fresh air. It’s cold and damp, not really the blue-sky day I’d hoped for, and there’s a heavy scent of petrol fumes in the air, but at least it’s not raining.
‘Fine, I guess. I haven’t spoken to him,’ says Anna.
I tilt my head. ‘Really?’
‘It’s difficult with the time difference and everything…’ She shrugs. ‘We message. Talk once a week.’
‘I guess you’re more used to being apart than I am. I’m on the phone with Jake most nights.’
I don’t point out that it’s him who calls me, and that I suspect it’s only to prove that he’s not out with a woman. Not that a phone call proves anything, of course, but he doesn’t seem to see it that way.
‘How long have you guys been married?’ Anna asks.
I kick a pile of brown leaves, sending them flying into the air.
‘You should never do that,’ Anna says. ‘There might be hedgehogs under it.’
I look to see if she’s being serious, then apologize, thrown off-balance that I might have upset her.
‘No worries,’ she says. ‘Don’t do it again. So, how long have you been married?’
‘Two. And together for one before that.’
‘Not so long then.’
‘How about you and Rob?’
‘Seven years married. And you know what they say about that.’ Anna rolls her eyes.
‘Seven-year itch?’ I ask, and she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. It surprises me. Young couple, pregnant wife – I’d assumed, I suppose, that their marriage was a garden of roses. But I, of all people, should know that’s not necessarily true.
‘It’s difficult keeping things alive when we’re apart so much,’ Anna says carefully. ‘I only see him for a few nights every four to six weeks. Sometimes it feels as if he spends more time on aeroplanes than he does with me. It’s a joke I even got pregnant. And now…’ she exhales. ‘Now, I guess I’ll be pretty much raising this baby alone.’
‘But he’ll come home for the birth, won’t he? Stick around a bit?’
She shrugs. ‘You’d hope so, wouldn’t you?’ We walk a few steps while I digest this, then Anna speaks again. ‘God knows what he gets up to when he’s away.’ She looks away from me, across the park.
‘Surely not a lot? It’s Qatar, isn’t it?’ I’m really out of my depth now but, from what little I’ve heard about Middle Eastern countries, I imagine Rob’s living in some sort of compound with other male members of staff. Segregated from the women. Or is that Saudi Arabia? I’m ashamed how little I know, but it can’t be like California, can it, where temptation-in-a-bikini is all around.
Anna sighs. ‘I think it’s pretty relaxed in the big hotels. They can get alcohol and stuff. There are clubs and bars, and pretty, young cabin crew a-plenty.’ She shuts her eyes. ‘I just try not to think about it. So how do you and Jake keep it alive while he’s away?’ she says.
I laugh, thrown off guard by the question. ‘I’m hardly the right person to ask.’
‘Oh, come on! I need some tips.’
I go to kick another pile of leaves and remember I mustn’t. ‘I just try to keep him interested, that’s all. So he doesn’t look elsewhere. But, you know… with the baby…’
‘It’s safe, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah. Course it is. It’s just…’
Anna smiles. ‘I know exactly what you mean. The most important thing is to get the baby to full term, right? After what you’ve been through.’
‘Yes!’
‘And surely he understands that? I mean – it’s his precious son and heir, right?’
‘Exactly. Yes, of course.’
We smile, understanding each other perfectly.
‘But before that. What did you do to keep him interested?’ she asks. ‘You’ve got to have some tricks up your sleeve, right?’
I suck my teeth. ‘Well, we’d talk on the phone…’
‘Like… dirty talk?’ She’s peering at me, her curiosity naked.
‘Sometimes. And I’d send him pictures. Nothing that’d be worth hacking my iCloud for. Just a bit of a tease.’
‘To keep him interested?’
‘Yeah. You know how it is… handsome man; travels a lot…’ I exhale, plastering over the wound of Jake’s infidelity in my head; thinking further back to a time before I’d caught him cheating. ‘I dunno. I might buy some fancy new underwear when he was coming home after a longer trip. Not every trip, just now and then. And he likes a bit of role play, so – wow, this goes back to before we were married, I don’t think we’ve done it in ages – god, I’m embarrassed to say, but I’d get some dress-up costumes. We used to be quite playful.’ I laugh, self-conscious now, and sneak a sideways look at Anna. ‘It sounds seedy, doesn’t it? It was just a bit of fun.’
‘It’s not seedy, and I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I hope you didn’t mind me asking, but who else can you ask but your girlfriends?’
I shake my head. ‘It’s fine. You don’t do any of that, I take it?’
‘Rob’s not the sort. He’s more your wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am type. You know, straight-up, no frills. If I put on fancy underwear he’d think I’d got a boyfriend coming over.’
I can’t imagine lovely Anna with someone who sounds, frankly, so dull. ‘How did you two
