“Hi, Becky?” A crackly voice comes back. “It’s Jess.”
Jess?
I press the buzzer in astonishment. What’s Jess doing here? I didn’t even know she was in London.
“The taxi’s booked for fifteen minutes’ time.” Luke puts his head round the kitchen door, wearing only a towel.
“You’d better get some clothes on,” I say. “Jess is just coming up in the lift!”
“Jess?” Luke looks taken aback. “We weren’t expecting her, were we?”
“No.” I hear the gentle chime of the doorbell to our apartment and start giggling. “Quick, get dressed!”
I swing the door open to see Jess, dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a tight brown tank top, which actually looks quite cool in a seventies, retro way.
“Hi!” She gives me a stiff hug. “How are you, Becky? I’ve been seeing my tutor, and I thought I’d drop by. I tried ringing, but the line was busy. Is it OK?”
She looks slightly nervous. Honestly! As if I’m going to say no, it’s not, go away.
“Of course!” I warmly clasp her back. “It’s fab to see you. Come on in!”
“I brought a present for the baby.” She reaches in her rucksack and pulls out a brown romper, with I Will Not Pollute the World printed on the front in beige.
“Er…fab!” I say, turning it over in my fingers. “Thanks!”
“It’s made of natural hemp,” Jess says. “Are you still planning an all-hemp wardrobe for the baby?”
All-hemp? What on earth is she—
Oh. Maybe I did say something like that at Mum’s party, just to stop her lecturing me about evil bleached cotton.
“I’m going…part hemp, part other fabrics,” I say at last. “For…er…biodiversity.”
“Excellent.” She nods. “And I meant to say, I can get you a changing table on loan. There’s a women’s student cooperative which lends out baby equipment and toys. I’ve brought the number.”
“Right!” I quickly kick the door of the nursery shut before she spots my Circus Tent changing station with integrated puppet show, which arrived yesterday from Funky Baba. “I’ll…bear that in mind. Come and have a drink.”
“Have you made the baby wipes yet?” Jess follows me into the kitchen.
Not the baby wipes again. I can’t tell her I threw all the rags away at Mum’s house.
“Er, not yet…” I hastily cast around. “But I’ve done some other stuff.” I grab a striped tea towel from the rack and tie a knot in the end. “This is a homemade organic toy,” I say casually, turning round. “It’s called Knotty.”
“That’s great.” Jess examines it. “What a simple concept. Far better than any manufactured rubbish.”
“And I’m planning to…paint this spoon with nontoxic natural paint.” Feeling emboldened, I take a wooden spoon from the drawer. “I’ll give it a face and call it Spoony.”
God, I’m good at this eco-recycling lark. Maybe I’ll start my own newsletter!
“Anyway, let me get you a drink.” I pour Jess a glass of wine and plonk down opposite her. “So. What’s going on? I couldn’t believe it when Janice said you were going out with Tom!”
“I know,” says Jess. “I’m sorry, I should have told you. But it’s been so…” She breaks off.
“What?” I say, agog. Jess is staring into her glass without drinking.
“It’s not really working out,” she says at last.
“Why not?”
Jess is silent again. She hasn’t really cracked this whole talking-about-boyfriends thing, has she?
“Go on,” I cajole. “Everything you say is totally safe with me. I mean…you do like him, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. But…” She exhales. “It’s just…”
“Becky?” Luke puts his head round the door. “Oh, hi, Jess. I don’t want to break things up, but we should be going soon….”
“You have plans,” says Jess, stiffening. “I’ll go.”
“No!” I put a hand on her arm. The one time Jess ever drops in on me and asks my advice, I’m not sending her away. This is exactly what I imagined us doing when I first met her. Two sisters, popping round to each other’s places, talking about boys….
“Luke.” I make a snap decision. “Why don’t you go on ahead and I’ll join you at the bar?”
“Well, if you’re sure.” Luke kisses me. “Good to see you, Jess!”
He heads out of the kitchen and as I hear the front door close I rip open a mini-packet of Pringles. “So. You like him….”
“He’s great.” Jess is fiddling with the rough skin on one of her fingers. “He’s bright, and interesting; he has sound views…and he’s good-looking. I mean, that goes without saying.”
“Absolutely!” I say after a pause.
To be honest, Tom has never done it for me. (Despite Janice and Martin’s conviction that I’ve been hopelessly in love with him my whole life.) But to each their own.
“So the problem is…” I circle my hands, prompting her.
“He’s so needy. He calls me about ten times a day; he sends cards covered with kisses….” Jess looks up with a disparaging expression and I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for poor old Tom. “Last week he tried to get my name tattooed on his arm. He phoned me to tell me he was doing it, and I got so angry, he stopped after J.”
“He’s got a J on his arm?” I can’t help giggling.
“Up near his elbow.” She rolls her eyes. “It looks ridiculous.”
“Well, maybe he was trying to look cool,” I suggest. “You know, Lucy wanted him to get a tattoo but he wouldn’t. He probably just wanted to impress you.”
“Well, I’m not impressed. And as for Janice…” Jess thrusts her fingers through her cropped hair. “She rings me up nearly every day on some pretense or other. Have I had any thoughts about Tom’s Christmas present? Do I want to join them on a wine-tasting weekend to France? I’ve really had enough of it. So I’m thinking of ending it.”
I look up in dismay. Ending it? But what about the baby being a ring-bearer?
“You can’t give up just because of a few little details!” I protest. “I mean, apart from the tattoo, are you getting on OK? Do you ever argue?”
“We had a pretty big argument the other day.” Jess nods as she says it.
“About what?”
“Social policy.”
Oh, this just proves it. They’re made for each other!
“Jess, talk to Tom,” I say on impulse. “I bet you can work things out. Just for the sake of a tattoo…”
“It’s not just that.” Jess wraps her arms round her knees. “There’s…something else.”
“What is it?”
With an intake of breath, it hits me. She’s pregnant too. It has to be. God, how cool! We’ll have babies together and they’ll be cousins and we’ll take cute pictures of them playing in the grass together….
“I’ve been offered a two-year research project in Chile.” Jess’s voice pricks my bubble.
“Chile?” My mouth drops open in dismay. “But that’s…miles away.”
“Seven thousand,” she says, nodding.
“So…are you going to go?”
“I haven’t decided. But it’s a fantastic opportunity. It’s a team I’ve wanted to join for years.”
“Right,” I say after a short silence. “Well, then…you should go.”
I have to be supportive. This is Jess’s career. But I can’t help feeling a bit doleful. I’ve only just got to know my long-lost sister, and now she’s disappearing off to the other side of the world?
“I’ve pretty much decided that I will.” She raises her head and I find myself looking right into her speckly hazel eyes. I’ve always thought Jess had pretty eyes.
Maybe the baby will have speckly hazel eyes just like that.
“You’ll have to send me lots of pictures of my niece or nephew,” says Jess, as though reading my mind. “So I can see it grow up.”
“Of course! Every week.” I bite my lip, trying to digest all this. “So…what about Tom?”
“I haven’t told him yet.” She hunches her shoulders. “But it’ll mean the end for us.”
