The following morning, Rebecca was up early, eager to get a start on her day off. After last night, Luke having cleaned up and made them grilled cheese sandwiches, she felt a little better about not waking up alone in her little oasis. She rolled over in bed, giving the view a glare as she opened the curtains. She dressed in a pair of black trousers, a pink sweater and her usual walking boots, and then she packed her bag with her phone, cash, and a list of stuff she needed to get from the shops. With Hans at the café all day, she wanted to go see Holly too, see how she was coping being cooped up indoors. Bedrest was the worst. She knew from experience what it felt like to spend hours and days staring out of the window, watching everyone get on with their lives. She had to live with Hans too, and was growing his spawn, so the least the woman deserved was a cuppa and a chat.
Heading out of her bedroom door, dressed and boots in hand, she heard a voice in the living room. She wanted to say hello, but she headed to the bathroom instead. It was nearer to the living room, and his voice got louder as she approached.
‘He really did that? Why?’ Rebecca could hear the confusion in Luke’s voice. ‘What about the activities coordinator? Did she try like the manager suggested?’ A woman’s voice came back across the phone line, and whatever she said made Luke gasp. ‘No! The middle one? That’s not like him, none of this is.’ Rebecca found herself venturing around the corner. He didn’t sound okay. ‘Well, I suppose at least his fingers are working. Did he say anything, ask about me?’ Rebecca walked into the room, and he noticed her then. He was sitting on the sofa, which was covered in a couple of her king size duvet covers. His laptop and notebooks were spread out all around him, but he was sitting back on the sofa, one hand running through his dark, messy hair, the other holding his phone to his ear. He smiled at her, and looked her up and down. She was grateful to have scrubbed up that morning for once, for putting some make-up on over her tired eye bags. She’d not been sleeping very well of late. She gave him a little wave, mouthing her apologies, but he beckoned for her to sit down by moving some of the papers next to him. He patted the seat.
‘Okay, no problem. Listen, thanks for letting me know. If you need anything, I …’ The voice was insistent in its refusal, and he rolled his eyes. Whoever the woman was, she was a woman who spoke her mind. ‘Okay, okay. Still, anything, okay? And thanks, okay?’ He was saying okay a lot, gesturing again for Rebecca to sit down next to him. The man had no boundaries, and after last night, and the heat she’d felt from his touch, she found herself nodding, taking up his invitation to sit down. Tucking her feet under her, hiding her Homer Simpson socks, she waited for him patiently. He was saying goodbye to the woman, and talking about bacon sandwiches for some reason, so she respectfully tried to tune him out. Looking around her, she could see various plans and notes. Technical stuff that looked like it was gobbledy-gook in places.
‘App designs, for clients.’ He was talking to her now, and his phone was on the coffee table. As it lit up, she saw a familiar image, the café, sitting in front of the mountains looking gorgeous. Just in the window, she could see herself, behind the counter, bowl in hand.
‘I like the view,’ he nodded at the screen. ‘Gorgeous here, isn’t it? Hans always sent photos, but it’s nothing like the real thing.’
Their eyes met when the screen went dark, and he nodded towards it again.
‘Sorry about that, a call from home. I—’
‘It’s fine, I should have given you more privacy. You working today?’
He looked back at his laptop screen, which was showing a very full inbox with a lot of urgent-sounding headings.
‘Yep, my trip here was a tad unscheduled so—’
‘Just a tad?’ she teased. He blushed, and she felt a bit mean. ‘Sorry, go on.’
‘I came last minute, as you know, and my clients are just used to me being around. I don’t usually travel.’
‘I gathered,’ she smiled, wanting to leave on a good note. The fact that he was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a white vest was nothing to do with it. Having a man sprawled on her sofa wasn’t going to stop her leaving to see her friend. ‘So, Hans is coming in today to run the café, I have a waitress coming too at 11, to give him a hand. I’ll be back later. If you need anything, he’ll be downstairs. You should be able to get some work done up here, it’s pretty quiet.’
‘You not working today?’ he asked, half reaching for her hand but putting it back on his own lap. She noticed a watch on his wrist, an old leather strap around an expensive-looking time piece. It had gone nine.
‘Nope,’ she said, standing up again and picking up her boots and bag. ‘Off into town, got things to do. You need anything?’
He reached into his side pocket, flashing a bit of toned midriff. He might make apps for a living but he clearly made time for the gym too. Pulling out a black leather wallet, he took out some Euros and offered the notes to her. ‘Here, for the bin and the sheets.’ It was a bit of a wad, more than what was needed.
‘It’s fine, don’t worry about it.’
‘No.’ He stood now and walked over to her, pushing the notes into her free hand. ‘Please, let me. I’ll feel better. I’ll get on with ordering a sofa too.’
She wanted to protest, but the wine-soaked sofa behind her covered in her now battered sheets silenced her. ‘I’ll pay half, okay?’ She closed her fist around the money, offering him a fist to bump. He laughed, bumping it but dodging her attempt to put the money back into his hand.
‘Nice try, now scoot. I have a lot of angry clients to soothe.’
As if on cue, his mobile phone rang again, and his laptop pinged with yet another email notification. She sighed dramatically, putting the money into her bag and waving him goodbye. He flashed her a big smile, his black-rimmed glasses nudging up his nose with the movement. She headed to the hallway, sitting on the little chair to push on her boots. As she laced them up, hearing Luke chatter away to a client, instantly turning him from angry to elated with a few work updates, she felt weird leaving him. Like she wanted to stay around today. Odd.
Lacing up, she grabbed her thick, red coat and headed out to the café. She wanted to avoid running into Hans. The last thing she needed was him to see their rather domestic setup. She was pretty sure she’d just offered to buy a sofa with a man she lived with. That was enough weird behaviour for today.
*
‘It’s not funny Holly! You utter shitbag!’
Holly was now on all fours in front of her corner sofa, braying like a donkey, wearing loungewear, laughing her head off. ‘Stop then, give me a minute. I’m going to give birth here!’ She exploded again into a fit of giggles. Rebecca slurped her tea and waited for her friend to roll herself back onto the sofa. She did it with surprising dignity, followed by a snort that a rhino would have been proud of.
‘Oh God, I feel like Shamu the whale on this bloody thing! Don’t deprive me of the little bit of enjoyment I get. You have a hot man in your house, and all he does is wreck it!’ Another snort. Rebecca eyed her friend over her cup rim. ‘You didn’t argue when I said he was hot.’
‘Ah … I mean, he’s not really my type, but … yeah he’s okay. In a Henry from Ugly Betty kind of way.’
Holly pulled a face. ‘Jesus, get over Henry already. Daniel was the hot one.’ She lay back on the white fabric, pushing her swollen ankles out flat and placing both hands on her bump. ‘Besides, Luke is hotter than Henry. He’s a lovely guy.’
Rebecca looked around the room, which had the same wooden look and design of the café, but with Holly’s warmer touches. The little Moses basket in the corner even matched the décor, baby supplies set out in neat little baskets, all labelled up.
‘You need to get out more, this place looks like a home interiors magazine, or a Hello shoot for a movie star.’
Holly gasped. ‘Not the décor, you know you love it. You always get snarky when you don’t like the question. Answer me, what do you think of Luke?’
Rebecca thought of the drunk, tormented man who urinated willy-nilly in her flat, and the man who took charge last night and carried her fireman-style to her bedroom. She hadn’t told her any of that, about their knees touching and flirting with each other, or about her sniffing his aftershave bottle in the bathroom that morning, like some sniffing weirdo.
‘I don’t think anything about Luke, I’m doing it as a favour to you and Hans. How does Hans know him anyway?’ Deflection. Winning.
Holly patted her bump, giving her a sly look.
‘Hey, little one in there, that’s your Auntie Rebecca, avoiding the question again. Don’t you let her do that to you, little peanut. Just like your mum doesn’t.’ She pretended to listen to her unborn child, who was visibly kicking now. Little cherub … Auntie Rebecca needs to teach you how bloody pushy your mother is.
‘What’s that now? Auntie, cut the shit?’ Holly pretended to listen again, nodding along to nothing. ‘Well, the language is something I don’t like, but nice work kid.’ Holly looked at Rebecca, giving her bump an attaboy pat. ‘Spill. What do you think?’
‘He’s okay. Hot, I’ll give you, but he’s got stuff going on. He’s a bit clumsy too, like a baby lamb.’
‘He is a baby lamb! Hans loves him though, he’s a great guy. Hans has been trying to get him to come here for years, so it’s a big thing for him. For them both, really.’ She fell silent then, and given the fact that she hadn’t stopped yakking since Rebecca had arrived, she noticed.
‘So why did he come?’
‘Because Hans invited him, and he needed to get away. He’s got a project going on. Your turn.’
Rebecca drained her cup, putting it down on the large glass coffee table in front of her. She noticed that there were little rubber stoppers on the corners already. ‘Hans?’ she asked, and Holly nodded.
‘I almost murdered him with a dessert spoon yesterday. He went to the shops and I couldn’t get the ice cream out of the freezer. Child locks! He’s going to be a nervous wreck at the birth. You need to be there, I keep telling you.’
Rebecca could tell her lips had pulled back tight, she could feel the breeze around her exposed gums. ‘Rebecca! Stop pulling faces, it’s childbirth! It’s a wonderful thing.’
‘It is not,’ Rebecca retorted. ‘It’s noisy and messy and bloody, and scream-filled rooms are not my forte.’
Holly humphed. ‘If you don’t answer your phone, I will let Hans carry out his placenta tree idea, and make you come watch the planting. When I am ready to pop this huge Swedish baby out, that will probably be the size of a ruddy Viking, I want you there to tell Hans off, and to stop me from showing myself up.’
‘Pooping yourself more like,’ Rebecca grimaced. ‘My mother did, Dad told me. She shat all over the table and the midwife. He used to laugh about it when he was drunk at Christmas.’
A cushion whizzed towards her, clocking her square in the face.
‘Stop it, you horrible, horrible friend! Tell me whether you fancy Luke or not!’
‘No!’
‘Why not? You just told me about your own birth! I have visions of your mother in the throes of pushing now! Tell me!’
‘No!’
‘You so do.’
‘I don’t.’ Another cushion came to see its mate, clocking her on the cheek this time as she half dodged it. ‘Argh, that was the zip, you cow!’
‘Aww, zip smip. Admit it, he’s more than hot. He’s single, a nice guy, has a good job, uses his brain.’
‘Wow, take me now. Most people have most of those things, you know. I don’t date anyway, so it’s irrelevant. What’s going on with him anyway? Why does Hans feel the need to help him? He’s not a skier, is he? Where did they even meet, if Luke’s never been further than the end of his street?’
Holly pulled herself up using the larger back cushions.
‘You need some help?’
‘Yeah,’ she puffed. ‘Bit late though. You could have told me copping off with a giant would end up with me birthing what feels like a teenager.’ She punched the cushions behind her, settling in again. ‘I’m bored, so I’ll play. Luke has been Hans’s friend for years. Hans went over to the UK on a school exchange, but Luke never came over here to visit. His family situation is a little complicated, so him being here, getting on a plane … It’s big. It means a lot to Hans, and Luke has something to do here too. He wants to ski, and enter one of the novice competitions.’
Rebecca didn’t say anything for a moment. She just sat there, processing the information. ‘Ski? Luke? He’ll break his blessed neck on the nursery slopes.’
Images of him dancing in the kitchen cooking sprang to mind. She hadn’t caught him yet, but she could tell he wasn’t moving around like a normal person would.
‘Does Hans know he’s a clumsy oaf? He’s basically Mr Magoo. Mr Hot Magoo. It’s a fool’s errand.’
‘Care, do you?’ Holly waggled her blonde eyebrows, giggling again.
‘No. But if he smacks headfirst into a barrier, where will he stay, eh?’ She waved her arms around her like a preacher delivering a sermon. ‘He can’t live here.’ She nodded to the coffee table, the art books and the latest thriller of Hans’s open on the glass surface. ‘You’d have to bubble wrap the place.’
Holly looked around her. ‘He won’t need to come here. He’s got a room, with you. I have a nurse’s outfit in the closet. I won’t need it for a while. Hans has a doctor outfit too, but I doubt Luke will fit it.’
‘Eugh!’ Rebecca got up, taking that gross image into the dark depths of her mind and dousing it in acid for good measure. ‘That’s my cue to leave. I’ll speak to Hans myself. You need anything from the shops?’
Holly shook her head. ‘Unless you can get me a waistline, I’m good here. Netflix is babysitting me.’
Rebecca squashed her friend in a hug, not letting her get up. She looked tired, and comfy where she was. Pulling a throw off the back of the sofa, she covered her friend’s legs and raised her legs up onto a cushion. ‘Good, stay put. Love you.’
‘Love you,’ Holly smiled at her, remote in hand now. ‘Now go get that stud muffin.’
Rebecca could hear her friend’s laughter even after she closed the front door. The woman was a huge pain in the posterior. Saturday was going to be bloody awful, and she still had to brave the shops. It wasn’t till she’d left Holly’s that she realised, she hadn’t asked Holly about Saturday at all.