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‘Don’t even try, Rosie,’ he almost growled. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know why I’m here.’ There was a crackle on the line, possibly the sound of Mitch exploding with fury. ‘You know perfectly well what I want to talk to you about,’ he shouted.
Rosie paused. Should she invite him up? She really,reallydidn’t want him in her flat. She looked down at her dressing gown and her slightly shaky hands. But then she didn’t want to have this conversation stood on the pavement in her dressing gown, either.
‘Are you going to let me up?’ he demanded, before she could make a decision about what to do.
Reluctantly, she pressed the buzzer that unlocked the door downstairs. Within seconds he was stood on her doorstep glowering at her.
‘Well?’ he said. ‘What have you got to say for yourself?’
‘Mitch,’ she said imploringly. ‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Right,’ he replied. ‘I know you were drunk last night but don’t try to tell me that you were so drunk that you don’t remember the conversation you had with Jenny.’
‘I was notthatdrunk,’ Rosie replied wearily, forgetting for a moment where this conversation was headed.
‘Then you will remember exactly what you said and why I amfuriouswith you,’ Mitch said in an icy tone. Rosie couldn’t think of a decent response. ‘How could you?’ he hissed. ‘What were you thinking?’
Rosie tried to rouse her fighting spirit, which was currently curled up in a corner wishing that alcohol had never been invented. She decided to go for an apology, hoping that might calm Mitch down.
‘I’m sorry, Mitch, OK?’ she started. ‘I don’t really think I did anything wrong, though.’
Seeing the fire in Mitch’s eyes, she realised that perhaps that caveat wasn’t the wisest follow-up to her apology. And it’s not like she didn’t already know that last night wasn’t her finest moment, but still.
‘You told her that we were going to have a baby together!’ he shouted.
Rosie desperately hoped her neighbours were out. She had managed to be the perfect neighbour for years now, never creating a mess, never making noise. This was going to completely ruin that.
‘Why would you do that?’ he continued.
‘Er, because it’s true?’ she queried. ‘Don’t you remember your plan? The one I thought was ridiculous and would all end in tears?’ Her fighting spirit was finally putting in an appearance, although its arrival was not helping her headache.
‘But you told my new girlfriend!’ Mitch was now a worrying shade of red. ‘How do you think she felt?’
‘I’m not sure, Mitch, but I did think that you might have had a conversation with her about all this, seeing as how you seemed so keen on her. Perhaps it’s a good thing she knows how serious you are about settling down, before you got too involved with her!’ Rosie was starting to get angry herself now, too.
‘It wasn’t your job to have that conversation with her, and it's not your decision to make whether I do or not!’ Mitch retorted.
‘Sorry,’ Rosie snapped. ‘I just didn’t know that it was top secret. Perhaps you should have prepped me before you left me to babysit your new girlfriend!’
Mitch took a breath and stared at her. ‘Whatexactlyare you saying?’ he said in a dangerous new tone.
‘What I am saying, Mitch, is that she’s achild. She’s what? All of twenty-two, maybe twenty-three? It’s just ridiculous.’
‘She’s twenty-four, actually,’ snapped back Mitch.
‘Exactly! She’s years younger than us! You talk about wanting to settle down, you talk about being desperate to have children, you come up with some kind of hare-brained scheme that takes absolutely no account of my feelings, and then you introduce me to your newtwenty-four-year-old girlfriend! Do you remember what we were doing at twenty-four?’
Mitch was silent.
‘No!’ Rosie shouted. ‘Neither do I, but I can assure you that we weren’t thinking of getting married and having kids! You’re making a fool of yourself, Mitch.’
There was a long silence while they stared at each other. Eventually, Mitch broke the silence. ‘I don’t think my relationship with Jenny is any of your business, Rosie.’
‘What?’ she asked incredulously. ‘Itismy business when you drag me into one of your insane plans and then leave me high and dry when a better offer comes along. And anyway, it’s OK for you to have all these opinions about who I should date? No, not that one, he has a silly name, no not him he’s too well groomed. But it’s not OK for me to have the opinion that your new girlfriendis just too young for you!’
Mitch stared at her speechlessly.
'She’s barely out of uni, Mitch. Think about it. Do you really think she’s interested in having kids anytime soon? She looked completely horrified when I brought up the subject.’
