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“Of course, it wasn’t. You just like making a fuss,” said Dylan. Before Lucy could reprimand him, he continued, “I’m going to grab my gym stuff and head off but I’ll be back in an hour or so to cook.”

“See you then,” Lucy found herself saying. She opened the door to the shop. “Oh, take a key so you can let yourself in later.” She handed him the key. “Don’t worry, I have plenty of spares, and, as my business partner, you should have one anyway. I’ll leave the door to the flat unlocked so you can just come up.”

“Cool, see you later.”

Lucy went up to her flat wondering at how peculiar it was that she’d been comfortable enough to just hand Dylan over a key. He should have one as a partner in the business, but he hadn’t asked, and she’d just gone and offered it. Who’d have thought that having the chance to get to know him so much better would result in her feeling so much more relaxed with him? Though, to be honest, as he was the father of her child, it really was just as well that they were getting along so well.

* * *

True to his word, Dylan returned when he’d said he would, freshly showered, with his hair wet and smelling of some citrusy shampoo.

It was definitely peculiar having him let himself in and come up the stairs to her home, but not in an unpleasant way.

He set to work on their dinner straight away, pouring them both a glass of some ginger cordial they’d found in the supermarket, which he’d hoped would have the same effect as the ginger tea.

Lucy sipped her drink and did an online order for supplies for the coffee shop while he worked. She surreptitiously watched him as he moved around her kitchen, sometimes humming along to the radio he’d turned on. He asked her if there was anything he couldn’t find and soon the kitchen was smelling delicious. By the time Dylan was serving up, Lucy was properly hungry, and her stomach growled as she cleared her laptop off the table and laid it for dinner.

“Thank you,” she said as her plate of food and a glass of orange juice was placed in front of her.

“It smells amazing,” Lucy said, taking her first mouthful. “Oh, wow, this is so good. What’s in the mash?”

“Roasted garlic,” Dylan said.

“It’s delicious,” Lucy confirmed.

They finished eating and cleaned up.

“I’ll head off then,” said Dylan when they’d finished.

“Cool. Um, thanks for coming with me today,” Lucy said. “It was good to have you there for support.”

“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” said Dylan. “It was truly . . . amazing. I still can’t believe that that little plum is inside you.”

“Hey,” Lucy said. “Why don’t we divide up the photos between us so we can both stick them on our fridges?”

“Yeah, that would be great. Thank you,” Dylan replied.

He sounded so heartfelt, it reminded Lucy that this pregnancy really seemed to matter to him too.

Lucy took down the photos from where she’d stuck them on her fridge, she took some scissors out and divided them up.

“OK, we can take it in turns to choose,” she said. “I get to go first because I’m carrying the plum.”

“This is fair,” agreed Dylan.

“I’ll take this one.” Lucy set one aside that put their plum’s face in beautiful profile. “You next.”

Dylan took his time deciding, and finally took one. Lucy had already made her next choice, leaving the final picture for Dylan.

“We were quite civilised about that,” Lucy said.

“We really were,” Dylan laughed. “Have a good night. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Dylan left and Lucy stuck her pictures back up on the fridge, taking a moment to look at them again. Their baby. Their Little Plum. She put a hand on her stomach, which seemed to be growing by the day. She could still hide it under baggy clothes, but it wouldn’t be long before she was noticeably pregnant, with the most perfect looking baby in the world.

Chapter 12

Lucy’s hopes that her pregnancy exhaustion was almost behind her were shattered when she woke up feeling like she hadn’t slept at all the next morning.