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I dip a nugget in the barbecue sauce. “I’m going to eat the sundae.”
“You know what I’m talking about,” he scolds. “You can’t keep ignoring the baby. You need to have an anatomy scan, and work out how far along you are, and when the baby’s due.”
I finish off my fries, then pick up the sundae, dip the spoon in, and suck the ice cream off as I close my eyes and give a little moan. Ohhh… that tastes so good…
I open my eyes and discover him watching me. His eyes are slightly sultry as he watches me suck the spoon.
“I haven’t had ice cream for a while,” I mumble.
“Are you trying to make me cry?”
I give a short laugh. Then I trail the spoon through the sundae. “I know I need to do something,” I murmur. “You’re right. I’ve buried my head in the sand, hoping it would go away, but it’s not going to.”
“No,” he says. “Look, I want to suggest something to you. You know I have connections at the hospital because of our IVF research. There’s an obstetrician there I know well—Dr. Mathew Clinton. He’s in his thirties, patient, and kind. I’d like it if you’d see him in the first instance. Once he’s checked you over, we can talk then about where you go from there.”
I dig the spoon into the sundae. “I thought I could organize free maternity care.”
“You can. But I don’t know how long it will take for you to get an appointment. I think because you haven’t seen anyone yet, it would be good to work out when you’re due at least, as you look more than four months.”
“Do you think something’s wrong?” I ask in alarm.
“Not at all. There are lots of reasons you could look bigger—all women are different, and you’re very thin.”
He doesn’t look convinced, though, and it’s then that I understand. He doesn’t want a paternity test because he doesn’t want to start this relationship off by not trusting me. But he’s not sure it’s his.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll see your friend this first time. But after that, I’d rather organize for a midwife myself.”
“Fair enough.” He opens his apple pie. “Now, how on earth do you know about PHP?”
I take mine and open the packet. “I do web development and some mobile app development in the evenings for extra money. I taught myself HTML and JavaScript, and I’ve been working on PHP for the past few months.” I crunch into the crispy pastry, and sigh as the sweet apple floods my mouth.
“Why are you working as a secretary if you can code? Surely coding pays better?”
“I don’t have a degree in it, so I’m stuck being a code monkey in my spare time. I trained myself in secretarial skills, too, but you don’t need formal qualifications in those to get a job.”
“Do you have a portfolio for your programming?”
“Um… not really. I could show you a few websites I’ve worked on, maybe.”
“Email me the links when you get back,” he says. “I’d like to take a look.”
“Okay.” I have no idea why he wants to see them, but I resolve to do it anyway. I eat the apple pie in a few big bites. “Thank you for lunch. It was the best meal I’ve had for a long time.”
He sighs. “We could have been eating venison loin with chorizo and truffle custard, and jasmine rice parfait.”
“Is that food?”
He laughs. “I guess a Deluxe Double Quarter Pounder is just as good.”
“It really is.”
He smiles. His dark-brown eyes are like melted chocolate, and it’s impossible not to think about the way he looked into my eyes as he thrust inside me.
“Stop it,” he scolds.
“What do you mean?”
He huffs a sigh. “You’re giving me goose bumps.”
