‘Oh God, I feel like Shamu the whale on this bloody thing! Don’t deprive me of the little bit of enjoyment I get. You have a hot man in your house, and all he does is wreck it!’ Another snort. Rebecca eyed her friend over her cup rim. ‘You didn’t argue when I said he was hot.’
‘Ah … I mean, he’s not really my type, but … yeah he’s okay. In a Henry from Ugly Betty kind of way.’
Holly pulled a face. ‘Jesus, get over Henry already. Daniel was the hot one.’ She lay back on the white fabric, pushing her swollen ankles out flat and placing both hands on her bump. ‘Besides, Luke is hotter than Henry. He’s a lovely guy.’
Rebecca looked around the room, which had the same wooden look and design of the café, but with Holly’s warmer touches. The little Moses basket in the corner even matched the décor, baby supplies set out in neat little baskets, all labelled up.
‘You need to get out more, this place looks like a home interiors magazine, or a Hello shoot for a movie star.’
Holly gasped. ‘Not the décor, you know you love it. You always get snarky when you don’t like the question. Answer me, what do you think of Luke?’
Rebecca thought of the drunk, tormented man who urinated willy-nilly in her flat, and the man who took charge last night and carried her fireman-style to her bedroom. She hadn’t told her any of that, about their knees touching and flirting with each other, or about her sniffing his aftershave bottle in the bathroom that morning, like some sniffing weirdo.
‘I don’t think anything about Luke, I’m doing it as a favour to you and Hans. How does Hans know him anyway?’ Deflection. Winning.
Holly patted her bump, giving her a sly look.
‘Hey, little one in there, that’s your Auntie Rebecca, avoiding the question again. Don’t you let her do that to you, little peanut. Just like your mum doesn’t.’ She pretended to listen to her unborn child, who was visibly kicking now. Little cherub … Auntie Rebecca needs to teach you how bloody pushy your mother is.
‘What’s that now? Auntie, cut the shit?’ Holly pretended to listen again, nodding along to nothing. ‘Well, the language is something I don’t like, but nice work kid.’ Holly looked at Rebecca, giving her bump an attaboy pat. ‘Spill. What do you think?’
‘He’s okay. Hot, I’ll give you, but he’s got stuff going on. He’s a bit clumsy too, like a baby lamb.’
‘He is a baby lamb! Hans loves him though, he’s a great guy. Hans has been trying to get him to come here for years, so it’s a big thing for him. For them both, really.’ She fell silent then, and given the fact that she hadn’t stopped yakking since Rebecca had arrived, she noticed.
‘So why did he come?’
‘Because Hans invited him, and he needed to get away. He’s got a project going on. Your turn.’
Rebecca drained her cup, putting it down on the large glass coffee table in front of her. She noticed that there were little rubber stoppers on the corners already. ‘Hans?’ she asked, and Holly nodded.
‘I almost murdered him with a dessert spoon yesterday. He went to the shops and I couldn’t get the ice cream out of the freezer. Child locks! He’s going to be a nervous wreck at the birth. You need to be there, I keep telling you.’
Rebecca could tell her lips had pulled back tight, she could feel the breeze around her exposed gums. ‘Rebecca! Stop pulling faces, it’s childbirth! It’s a wonderful thing.’
‘It is not,’ Rebecca retorted. ‘It’s noisy and messy and bloody, and scream-filled rooms are not my forte.’
Holly humphed. ‘If you don’t answer your phone, I will let Hans carry out his placenta tree idea, and make you come watch the planting. When I am ready to pop this huge Swedish baby out, that will probably be the size of a ruddy Viking, I want you there to tell Hans off, and to stop me from showing myself up.’
‘Pooping yourself more like,’ Rebecca grimaced. ‘My mother did, Dad told me. She shat all over the table and the midwife. He used to laugh about it when he was drunk at Christmas.’
A cushion whizzed towards her, clocking her square in the face.
‘Stop it, you horrible, horrible friend! Tell me whether you fancy Luke or not!’
‘No!’
‘Why not? You just told me about your own birth! I have visions of your mother in the throes of pushing now! Tell me!’
‘No!’
‘You so do.’
‘I don’t.’ Another cushion came to see its mate, clocking her on the cheek this time as she half dodged it. ‘Argh, that was the zip, you cow!’
‘Aww, zip smip. Admit it, he’s more than hot. He’s single, a nice guy, has a good job, uses his brain.’
‘Wow, take me now. Most people have most of those things, you know. I don’t date anyway, so it’s irrelevant. What’s going on with him anyway? Why does Hans feel the need to help him? He’s not a skier, is he? Where did they even meet, if Luke’s never been further than the end of his street?’
Holly pulled herself up using the larger back cushions.
‘You need some help?’
‘Yeah,’ she puffed. ‘Bit late though. You could have told me copping off with a giant would end up with me birthing what feels like a teenager.’ She punched the cushions behind her, settling in again. ‘I’m bored, so I’ll play. Luke has been Hans’s friend for years. Hans went over to the UK on a school exchange, but Luke never came over here to visit. His family situation is a little complicated, so him being here, getting on a plane … It’s big. It means a lot to Hans, and Luke has something to do here too. He wants to ski, and enter one of the novice
