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So that’s what they were talking about.
“All true,” I confirmed. “We made a deal, years ago. If Anna wanted a baby, I’d give her a pot of…sperm.”
“And I’ll hold you to it, Benjamin. We need to make that French baby. Now you have Hugo, you can be a family.”
“Anna…” I warned again. This was Anna in a nutshell. Too much information, no fucks given.
“Benjamin.” She’d never lost her French accent either. In fact, we spoke French when we were alone, but with Hugo here, we’d automatically stayed in English. We both had manners. But she did overshare. I suppose spending all that time with Mark and I had rubbed off. Or maybe we’d picked it up from her. What did I know?
“Hugo, we’re not getting younger. You never ask a lady to reveal her age, but I can tell you, it’s time. It’s something you and Benjamin need to discuss.”
“Anna, this is our first date. Perhaps we can talk babies…down the line?”
“First date?” She squealed. “And you haven’t cracked open the champagne?”
“No!” God, Anna, rein it in!
“Coffee is good?”
Thank you, Hugo.
“What we have decided, is this.” Anna swirled in her chair, making Hugo smile again. She took a small delicate sip of her coffee and nodded to Hugo to do the same.
“I want a baby, but I am a single woman with a business. I can’t just swan off on maternity leave and sit at home and sing nursery rhymes with my boobs out.”
She shuddered. I shuddered even worse. Hugo? He was gorgeous when he laughed.
“So whoisgoing to raise this baby?” And he was on the ball and not in the least fazed by Anna’s madness. Before she could answer, her sous chef shouted at her, in French of course, telling her the oyster man was at the back door. She cursed and waved her hand around in annoyance.
“You need to know all this if you are going to be Benjamin’s boyfriend. Husband. You need to get married. It would be good for him. Can’t even put his clothes on a hanger, this one. Anyway…”
“Yes?”
I picked up a pastry, held it out to him. He took it, stroking my finger as he did. The tiny gesture made my heart flutter.
“He’s so in love with you, it’s actually quite frightening.” Anna sighed, looking at me and then at Hugo.
“I know,” he said, winking at me. “But he is rather handsome.”
Blush on face. Right there.
“He’sveryhandsome. Why do you think I want him to father my baby? Do I want an ugly baby? No. We are going to make the most beautiful French baby. All those freckles. My eyelashes. I have very good eyelashes.”
And an incredible brain. Sharpest girl in our year, our Anna. She’d left with top marks and opened her own place a year later. Mark and I had still been struggling in a dead-end kitchen when she’d snagged her first award.
“Anyway, you and I need to become besties. That is non-negotiable, Hugo,” she said, gesturing at me to get her another coffee. “And now my useless staff need me to go wave my hands around in the kitchen.” She continued that statement with a tirade of French abuse at the poor guy still waiting in the kitchen doorway, who promptly sent a string of swear words right back at her. I sipped my coffee, smiled. Just a normal working kitchen.
“You’re not going to marry Marcel here then?” I called after her, waving at him before he disappeared back into the kitchen.
“Nope. Never! There’s a reason I’m single. I don’t need anyone in my life. Apart from you and Mark. And Mabel, of course. Tell Mark to come see me, and bring that gorgeous…what’s his name?”
“Finn?”
“Yes, Finn. Needs lots of champagne before he warms up, but I still like him.” With that, she swished through the doors and out of sight.
Hugo took another bite of pastry, flicking the crumbs from his coat. Every bite he took calmed me down. If he was eating, he was doing okay, but how could he not in this place? Anna made everyone feel relaxed.
She came back out and sat with us for a while—thankfully with no more baby talk, as she was off on another tangent about a customer trying to order vegan oysters, even I had to laugh at that—before we kissed her goodbye and left, my stomach full of pastries and Hugo’s face pink from laughter.
