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We’re helping ourselves to steak, when I turn to Drew. “Have you been keeping busy?”
He nods his head and sighs, and I’m tempted to ask what’s wrong. I’m not sure he’d tell me in front of Livia and Ella, though, so maybe it’ll have to wait. “I’m going to New York tomorrow morning,” he says, surprising me.
“Is that for work?”
He takes some salad from the bowl, passing it to Ella, and then looks up at me. “No, it’s not.”
“Then why…?”
“D—Do you remember me telling you about Lexi?” he says, his shoulders dropping in something that looks like despair.
“The model you met in the Caribbean?”
“Yeah. She called this afternoon.”
Ella dumps the salad bowl in the middle of the table again, and we all start eating. “I thought you broke up with her,” she says.
“I did. She called to tell me she’s… she’s pregnant.”
Ella drops her fork, and although I keep hold of mine, I put it down carefully and turn to face him properly. “She’s pregnant?”
“Yeah.” He takes a sip of beer and sits back, not interested in food.
Ella turns to Livia, giving her a slight smile. “Lexi is a model Drew dated for a while.”
“Oh…” Livia looks across the table at Drew.
“‘Dated’ is probably overstating it,” he says.
“And you didn’t use a condom when you were with her, because…?” I ask. It feels like the obvious question to me.
“Because the first time we were together, I was drunk.” He raises his voice. “I forgot.”
“Okay.” I hold up my hands.
“We didn’t worry about it in the cold light of day because Lexi told me she was on birth control.”
“Hold on.” Ella leans forward. “If she was on birth control, how did she get pregnant?”
Drew pushes his fingers back through his hair, looking a picture of dejection. “If you recall, I told you that most of the models got sick on that assignment.”
“Yes… but Lexi wasn’t one of them.”
“Except she was. What I didn’t realize was that she’d been sick too, before I arrived. She passed the bug on to one of the other models and it spread from there.”
I nod my head. “And because she was sick, her birth control didn’t work?”
“Exactly,” he says, turning back to me.
“But why are you only hearing about this now, all this time after the event?” I ask and he shakes his head, like he’s still taking it all in.
“Lexi explained that she’s been away on an assignment in California, and she didn’t even realize she was late until she got home. She took a test, and…”
“It was positive.”
He nods his head. “I never had to ask whether it was mine. She seemed to assume I’d have my doubts, and she assured me she hasn’t slept with anyone since.”
“You believe her?” I ask.
