Chapter Twenty-three

      ‘Come over again if you like,’ Nadine had murmured in the tiny office kitchen this afternoon. ‘I’m having a low-key night in.’ Hmmm. Well, that had sounded okay: a couple of hours at her place, perhaps staying over again, then up with the lark, back home to change and make himself look like a respectable dad on his way to pick up his children for the weekend. (I’m a weekend dad now … the phrase had been turning over in his mind all day.) So he and Nadine had jumped in a cab back to her place.

      ‘You don’t need to cook for me,’ he says now as she starts busying away in the kitchen.

      ‘Oh, I’m just getting a few bits and pieces together. They like something to nibble with their drinks.’

      Rob frowns. They?

      ‘They’re coming over about half eight-ish,’ she adds.

      ‘Er, who?’ he asks lightly.

      ‘Just a few friends.’ There’s the clink of crockery, and the sound of a packet being ripped open.

      He gets up and peers into the kitchen. ‘A few friends? You never said …’

      She smiles prettily, clutching a large glass bowl of tortilla chips. ‘It is Friday night, Rob. Don’t you normally do something fun at the weekend?’

      ‘Er … yes, I suppose so,’ he fibs.

      ‘Well, since I’ve been feeling a bit tired and queasy I haven’t really been in the mood for going out.’

      ‘I can understand that,’ Rob says. To his shame, he realises he hadn’t known she’d been feeling under the weather.

      ‘So I thought I’d ask the girls round. You don’t mind, do you?’

      ‘Of course not. God, Nadine. It’s your flat and, like you say, it’s Friday night …’ His mind starts to whir as he tries to conjure up an excuse as to why he must leave right now.

      She puts down the bowl on the worktop and starts removing pink glasses from the wall cabinet to line up on the worktop. One … two … three … four …

      ‘Do they, um … know?’ he asks as a fifth glass joins the others and the cupboard is, mercifully, shut.

      ‘About the baby?’ She laughs. ‘Of course they do, Rob. They’re my best friends.’

      ‘But isn’t it a bit early? I mean, you haven’t had a scan yet, I’d 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,’