‘I don’t believe you. I can’t believe anything you say now.’ Poppy was suddenly just far, far too tired to talk any more. She turned away from Declan and began to walk in the direction of the house.
‘Poppy, please, please listen.’ He was following her.
‘I can’t. Please just stop.’
‘I… Okay.’ Declan carried on walking next to her, but in silence now.
‘I don’t want you to come with me.’ No way could she spend tonight under the same roof as him.
Declan didn’t speak but didn’t stop walking. Fine. He wasn’t coming inside, though.
When they got to the house and she was opening the door, he said, ‘Please, please can we discuss this now?’
‘I have nothing to say tonight. Goodnight.’ Poppy went inside and left him standing on the doorstep.
She went into the kitchen. ‘Hi, Mum.’ Her mum had been babysitting while they went to the pub. ‘Thank you so much for babysitting.’
‘No problem. Where’s Declan? How was the evening?’
‘He’s coming back later. It was a great evening, thanks, but I have a headache and really need to go to bed now.’ She really couldn’t bear to talk about it now.
‘Oh no.’ Her mum came over and put her arms round her. ‘Can I help at all?’
‘No, honestly, I’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.’ She just wanted her mum to leave now so that she could cry and cry alone. She’d tell her in the next few days that she and Declan had split up, as they were obviously going to do.
‘Night, then.’ Her mum left and then Poppy heard her saying, ‘Oh, hello, Declan.’
Poppy waited for a couple of moments and then went and closed the front door that her mum had left ajar, presumably thinking Declan would be coming inside, and put all the locks on as loudly as she could so that he would know he was locked out.
And then she slumped down to the hall floor and just sobbed.
18
GEORGIE
Georgie was exclaiming at some London gossip that Ankita had just told her, but her heart really wasn’t in it. She couldn’t help glancing a lot at Raf, taking note of how he was clearly just avoiding her, plus of course there was the constant worry about Declan and Poppy.
She was going to get the letter back from Raf this evening and then she was going to speak to Declan tomorrow somehow, even if it meant knocking on his and Poppy’s front door and justasking.
She and the man who she thought was Declan had met at a huge New Year’s Eve Glasgow University medics ball that Poppy had invited Georgie to as her plus one. Georgie had been doing her teacher training that year and didn’t know a lot of people where she was living and was very pleased to go. She’d met Declan (assuming it was him), had sex with him outside, under a bush –whathad either of them been thinking – and that had been that.
In the morning she hadn’t felt good about having sex with someone who she’d known for approximately two hours in total – she hadn’t even found out his name – and she’d decided thatone-night-stands weren’t for her, and then she’d put it behind her until she’d discovered that she was pregnant. And then, despite much effort, she’d never managed to find him.
And she still wasn’tcertainit was Declan, despite all the googling of his life and oblique questioning and observing she’d been doing. So tomorrow she was going to ask him if he remembered going to a fancy dress New Year’s Eve party at Glasgow Uni in 2012 dressed as a ghostbuster and having a one-night stand with a stranger dressed as a witch (she hadn’t had much money, so she’d doubled up from Halloween).
‘Also…’ The end of Ankita’s story was interrupted by Declan.
‘Sorry, Ankita. Georgie, please could I speak to you outside? Immediately.’
Georgie stared at him. He looked, just, odd. His eyes were doing a really strange, twitchy thing and he had his lips pressed together in a weird way.
She began to go very cold with dread.
‘Okay,’ she said.
He nodded, and turned round, and she followed him outside.
As soon as the pub door was closed, he asked, ‘Is it true that I’m Max’s father?’
