Six weeks later – one week till competition day
‘Mum, you’re dying to ask, so just ask.’
Rebecca dumped the tray of burned croissants into the bin. It has half full of wasted baking. She went over to the oven, frowning at her error. Turning the oven down to the correct temperature, she checked on the fresh batch she’d just sent to a fiery death. Luckily, they might just survive with a bit of a tan. She needed to get some of it right, or she’d have nothing left to serve.
‘Have you heard from him?’ Her mother was looking at her from her phone, which was propped up on the chicken timer. She could see Dad in the corner, reading in his chair and pretending not to listen. The man had floppy ears that were dog-like, so she could see that he was earwigging. Every now and then, he’d turn the page.
‘No. He’s spoken to Hans a bit. His dad’s getting better all the time, they’re even talking about him going home soon. Luke’s staying at his dad’s I guess, or his place. I dunno.’
We’re both alone. I know that. He’d been away from her a lot longer than she’d known him in life, but it felt like forever. On both counts.
‘Have you tried to call him?’ Her dad looked at the screen as his wife spoke, turning the newspaper page to cover his tracks. Rebecca wiped down the surfaces, clearing away as she went.
‘No, and I’m not going to. I don’t know what’s going on with his dad, and … I’m still mad too.’
Her mother tutted loudly.
‘Rebecca, if I hear that one more time! You were going to go to Holly’s and get him back!’
‘He broke my trust!’
‘You told me you were already going to apply! You were going to send it in, weren’t you?’
‘No.’ She crossed her arms, pouting like a teenager. ‘Was not.’
‘Yes you were, you told that bloody flash Herbert ex of yours you were! You could have corrected Luke at that party, you didn’t for a reason.’
Rebecca stamped her foot.
‘So!’
Her dad turned the page again and huffed, blowing the pages out. Rebecca rolled her eyes.
‘The jig’s up Dad, I can tell you’re listening. Do you have something to say?’
He ignored her, turning the page again and suddenly looking very absorbed in reading.
‘Dad, it’s upside down.’
Cecilia turned to look at him, laughing her head off.
‘You’re such a berk, Mick! Come here!’
Mick, who was still in his dressing gown, put the paper down and came to sit next to his wife. She giggled, and he stuck his bottom lip out.
‘It nearly worked. You’re a berk,’ he said this to his wife, who just laughed in his face.
‘Oh, so you are listening. Tell your stubborn daughter to ring Luke!’
‘Do as your mother says.’
‘Not like that!’
‘I did what you said!’
‘You’re a total berk Dad, but I love you. I can’t call him, I don’t want to bother him.’
‘The poor boy is probably feeling very alone right now, sat at the hospital all those hours,’ her dad retorted.
‘Frank’s not in a coma, Mum, he had a stroke. He’s in recovery.’
‘Still, it’s not nice. You know that.’ She bit her lip. Progress like that had been gradual all month, but now she was on a somewhat normal level with her parents. They even spoke every day, or rather she and Mum did. Dad was usually pretending to screw something into a wall, or grouting tiles in the background. Now, he sat right next to her. Progress.
‘Hospitals are strange places. They hold so many emotions.’ Her mum’s voice went a bit floaty.
Mick looked at her, his face aghast.
‘That line was on Grey’s Anatomy last night!’
‘Shut up, Mick! It was not!’
‘Yes, it was! Her that was married to Derek what’s-his-face said it to the other one.’
‘It was not! Go back to your paper! You are no help!’
‘No help! I’m here, aren’t I?’
‘Guys, I really need to get cracking. The café’s due to open and I need to get changed.’
‘Okay love, well ring him, okay?’
Her dad said something else, but the door opened and Hans came running into the café. He nearly took the door off and was halfway across the café before he managed to stop himself. He looked at her, startled, his beard and hair all over the place. He looked like a lion with serious bed head.
‘Hans?’
Wild-eyed, he tried to speak. ‘Bay! Bay!’
‘What? Listen guys, Hans is here. Better go. Love you!’
She clicked off the call, shoving her phone in her apron pocket.
‘Hans? What the hell are you talking about?’
‘Bay! Bay!’
His needle was stuck. All he needed was a set of cymbals to bang together monotonously and the look was complete.
‘Bay-beee! Car! Holly!’ He jabbed his hands in the direction of the windows, and she could see Holly taking deep breaths on the back seat.
‘Shit! Baby!’ Rebecca said, twigging on.
Hans nodded, jumping and pointing at her. ‘Baby! Fuck! Baby!’
‘Okay, okay!’ Switching everything off, she grabbed her coat and keys, running out of the door. A second later, she realised that Hans wasn’t with her. She ran back in and dragged him out outside.
‘Go to the car, I’ll lock up!’
‘Okay! Baby! Coming!’ He dashed to the car, and she locked up, flicking the sign closed. She’d text for cover from the car. She ran around the far side of the vehicle, and jumping in, she reached for her friend’s hand. Holly looked as gorgeous as always, relatively unruffled, if a little sweaty.
‘You okay?’ Rebecca asked. ‘How bad is it, from walnut to watermelon?’
Holly squeezed her hand tight, making her nails dig into Rebecca’s skin. From the look she was giving her, Rebecca wasn’t quite sure that she didn’t mean it.
‘If I ever have sex,’ she said vehemently, pointing to the back of Hans’s head as he navigated their drive to the hospital, ‘with that man ever again, shoot me. Please.’
Rebecca laughed, but it turned into a shriek of pain when Holly’s grip tightened.
‘Laugh again, and I’ll rip them right off. You’ll never bake or ski again.’
Rebecca sat meekly for a second. The car fell silent.
‘Jesus,’ Hans said. ‘I’m going to be a father.’
They all smiled at each other then, catching Hans’s reflection in the central mirror. Holly’s contraction started to kick in again, and Rebecca lost feeling in her fingers.
‘Yeah,’ Holly said. ‘Well, you’re on nappy duty till he’s twenty-five, so good luck with that! It’ll give you something to do with all the sex we WON’T BE HAVING! Arrggghhh!’
Hans put his foot down, just a touch. He had to navigate down the mountainside and keep on the road with his nerves jangling, and Holly screaming for his testicles as tribute. It felt like another five years passed on that drive. When the medical centre finally loomed in the windshield, even the baby surely sighed with relief.
‘That’s my girl! Nearly there!’ Hans said, being as supportive as he could.
‘Shut up!’
‘I love you!’
‘Naff off!’
They took the side road, and the car park came into view.
Rebecca tapped out a couple of texts to cover the café and stop people worrying, and Hans drove straight into the car park.
‘We’ll never get a space Hans, drive to the entrance. I’ll park up for you.’
Hans turned the corner. Luke was standing in front of an empty parking space. When he saw Hans, he waved him in, passing him a ticket through the open window.
‘Thanks mate,’ Hans parked up and scooping Holly up into his arms, he strode off to reception.
‘Hans, don’t you drop me on this floor!’
Holly had her arms around his neck, and he stopped for a second to kiss her on the lips.
‘Not a chance,’ he said softly, striding off once more as if she weighed nothing. ‘Let’s go have a baby!’
‘Baby!’ Holly shouted, pumping her fist up in the air as they left Luke and Rebecca standing alone. He looked behind him at the waiting wheelchair.
‘I thought she might have needed this.’ He took hold of the handles. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I have to go.’ She was blindsided again. Luke was right here, being all knight in shining labour.
‘Rebecca.’
‘I’m Holly’s birth partner. I have to go.’ She headed inside, feeling her cheeks explode like a tomato. She felt like everyone was looking at her. Why is he here? She headed straight to where Holly was getting booked in. Hans was rubbing her back whilst she leaned against the counter. He saw her come up and gave her a sheepish look.
‘Don’t kill me yet, I want to see my son first. He came back yesterday. Mina put him up.’ Wow. Mina hated everyone. She’d had him as a houseguest, even after bin-gate? Rebecca smirked. Typical Luke. Lovely Luke. Lost to me Luke.
‘Here Holly,’ Luke pushed the chair towards Holly, appearing at Rebecca’s side, and he and Hans settled her in. A midwife came to speak to them, and before Rebecca knew it, she was walking away from Luke again, into the delivery suite with a nervous Hans. Just before the doors closed, she turned to look at him, but the corridor was empty.
*
It was a very different woman that emerged from that delivery suite. Rebecca felt like she’d been there a week, but everything had happened at warp speed. She’d seen things that she could never un-see, and she had a whole new respect for her own pelvic floor. She’d left the happy new family in their own little baby bubble and caught a cab back to Fir Tree Lodge.
Pulling up outside, she saw that the café lights were still on. Getting out of the cab, she dragged herself inside to see what the carnage was. Unlocking the door, she saw that everything had been squared away.
‘Thank you, Eloise,’ she said to the ceiling as she tried to uncrick her neck. Holly had a lethal headlock.
Heading to the flat door, flicking off the lights as she went, she heard the radio and felt a pang for Luke. He’d only lived here a week but this past month she’d felt like he was everywhere. She’d thrown herself into work, spent time with her friends, done more skiing than she had ever done. She couldn’t get off the slopes these days, it calmed her. It was the only place where her heart didn’t feel like it was being slowly crushed.
Locking up, she went into the kitchen. Flicking the music off, she took a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured herself a good measure.
‘To you, little one,’ she toasted, clinking her glass against the right boob shaker.
‘Everything went well with the baby?’
She jumped, splashing half her glass down herself.
Luke was standing in the doorway. ‘I didn’t mean to surprise you. Eloise was pretty busy, I came to help. I told her I could finish clearing up, so she could get back to the kids.’
‘You scared the hell out of me!’
‘Sorry. Again. I’ll go now. I made you a sandwich, in the fridge. I thought you might be hungry.’
She opened the fridge. He’d bought her some snacks too, the stuff she liked. She’d not even seen it before.
‘Luke?’
He appeared again.
‘Yeah?’
‘Where are you staying?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Not sure yet, to be honest, I was going to go to Mina’s but—’
‘She’s a lot, isn’t she?’
Luke looked relieved that he wasn’t digging her out. ‘A bit. She’s not a fan of houseguests. Hans did say I could stay there, but with the baby, I don’t know.’
‘You can stay here.’ She took a gulp of wine. ‘It’s Hans’s place. They need their space, new family and all. It’s just for a week or so right, till the comp?’ Hans had filled her in post crowning.
Luke nodded slowly. ‘Yes, I’m flying home the day after.’
That was that then. He was here for the comp. To finish what he and his parents had started. She couldn’t find fault with that, as much as it saddened her heart.
‘That’s settled then.’ She went to head to the bathroom, wanting to shower off the day and gather her thoughts behind the closed door.
‘Are you sure? I wasn’t—’
‘I know you weren’t asking, but Hans did say he would put you up till the competition. I’m sure we can manage to get through a week.’
‘The first one was pretty good. With the baby and everything, I guess it will be awkward at Hans’s.’
‘Yeah, you wouldn’t want that.’
‘Yeah, nothing worse than feeling awkward around someone you care about.’ He put his head down, and she took the opportunity to walk away.
‘You off to bed already?’
It was only early, but she was exhausted.
‘It’s been a hell of a day Luke.’
‘I know, I just …’
‘You’re here for the competition, right? That’s what matters. Doing it for your dad. Night Luke.’
She heard him sigh as she walked past him, but she kept walking. All she could focus on was getting to the other side of the door before she broke and begged him to stay. There was no point. He’d betrayed her trust, just like Robbie did, thinking he knew what was best for her. Everyone thought they knew best. Just because he was right on this occasion didn’t mean that it was forgotten. She wanted him, but she’d gone a month without him. She could live without him again. If she had to.
Seeing Hans and Holly together, cooing over their little bundle, that’s what she should be focusing on. They would have their hands full now, and she needed to focus too. On the café, on her parents, on taking the next steps in her own life. The trouble was, the man currently sighing outside her bathroom door keep popping into her head, making her plans feel pathetic and one dimensional. Now he was back, it hurt even more. It was going to be a hell of a long week. The competition was looming, and she was fast running out of places to hide.
*
‘She let me stay here, sure, but only because she loves you and Holly. She knows you need your space.’
Hans yawned into the phone. Luke was working on his laptop, debugging the website of a new client. The new sofa in the lodge looked really nice, but Luke found himself missing the old wine- and steak-stained one, and the sheets they’d draped over it. They owned furniture together, lived together again but this morning she had gone by the time he had woken up, and Eloise was working the café with a server he’d not seen before. No note, not that she had to tell him where she was. At this point, they weren’t even friends. It made his heart ache. When Frank had suggested he go back, finish the competition, he’d said no. He didn’t want to leave his side again, even if it was to see Rebecca. She hadn’t called, but she’d asked about Frank. She cared, just not about him anymore. He’d let her down, and she had cut him out of her life. She was quite good at that, it seemed.
‘I have had two hours’ sleep, my friend, but you are still slower on the uptake.’
‘What?’ Luke scratched his head.
‘Holly, tell him. Have … to …’ There was a rustling noise, and Holly came on the line.
‘Hi Luke, Hans is out cold. His son has a set of lungs on him.’
‘Our … son, our son …’
‘Go to sleep. Did you speak to her yet?’
‘No. She’s gone off somewhere. Do you know where?’
Holly didn’t answer.
‘Holly?’
‘Wha …? Sorry, dozed off. What did you say?’
‘Do you know where Becks went, she’s been gone all day.’
No answer.
‘Holly, did you fall asleep again?’
The line was quiet for a beat, and then Holly spoke again.
‘No, I just don’t know whether to tell you or not. I just gave birth, my girl code radar’s busted up.’
‘Please, Holly! I will babysit whenever you like. Whenever!’
‘You go home in a week!’
‘So, FedEx the little guy over. He’ll love it!’
‘That sounds awful. And actually quite tempting, which tells me my instincts are definitely off. I can’t do it Luke. Have you tried calling her?’
‘Yeah, but I’m pretty sure she blocked me.’
‘Typical Rebecca. Give her time, Luke. She’s working through some stuff.’
‘Did she say anything about me?’
‘BOOP BOOP BOOP BOOP! Girl code radar’s working again. I definitely can’t tell you that. Talk to her Luke! You live together. Write her a note on the bathroom mirror for God’s sake.’ The baby started crying in the background, and Luke could hear a man-sized baby start to sob too. ‘Listen, I have to go. Please, talk to each other. Try with Luke. No gestures, just talk! Hans, where are you going? Hans? HANS, THAT’S NOT THE TOILET! What the f—’
The line went dead, and Luke cringed. Thank God his ex-girlfriend had put him up. Awkward and heartbreaking as it was to be near her, it knocked spots off living anywhere else. It meant a chance, at least.
He tried to concentrate on his work again, before giving up and pulling some sticky notes out of his work bag. He picked up a pen and started to write. It was worth a shot. He was on his twentieth attempt when Hans sent him a text that had him running to the door.
*
‘My question is also to you, Becks,’ began Andy McNabb, the sports reporter for the Post. He gave her a courteous nod, and she nodded back. Andy was a good guy, she remembered him. Tough but fair. ‘Given that Alpine Challenge is a brand new event on the resort’s calendar, why this one? Why not one of the others, the ones you have already competed in, and won?’ She could see Robbie flinch from the corner of her eye.
‘Twice, in some cases,’ she said into the microphone. She always did have the slight edge on Robbie. Andy and a few of the others in the room chuckled. They were in the main conference room of the hub of the competition centre, giving their press conference ahead of the event.
‘Exactly,’ Andy continued. ‘Why this challenge, and why this year?’
A couple of latecomers came in at the back, and Rebecca took the moment of distraction to find her voice.
‘The Alpine Challenge is fresh, it’s new, and it has no winners and no losers. It’s a clean blanket of snow for every single one of us.’ She looked down the table at her competitors, making eye contact with each one, and leaving Robbie till last. ‘What went on before is irrelevant. The past is the past.’ She addressed the reporters once more, the clicks from cameras audible in the space.
‘I’m doing this competition because it’s time. I have had enough rest, and it’s time for the next chapter. For a long time, I sat in the shadows, but that’s done now.’ She eyed Robbie again. ‘I’m here to win.’
Andy nodded, smiling. ‘Thanks Rebecca, and the next question is to you, Robbie, if I may?’
Robbie’s head perked up, and he made a finger gun at him. ‘Shoot.’
Andy raised a brow but didn’t miss a beat. ‘Thank you. Tell us please, how does it feel to be competing against the Ice Rebel?’
Robbie’s smiling lips froze in place and Rebecca resisted the urge to smirk. Only just. Looking away, she scanned the crowd, and then she was staring into Luke’s eyes. He didn’t look away.
‘It feels great, I’m looking forward to it. Like Rebecca says, it’s all to play for now.’ He gave her a sneering look disguised as a friendly little nod. She rolled her eyes, making a couple of reporters on the front row titter. She looked back to Luke and he was rolling his. Heidi Erskin was getting questioned now, and she took the chance to take him in. He looked tired, but his eyes were sparkling at her from across the room.
She had rather hoped that in the last month he might have gone to seed a bit, like any decent ex should. Nothing major, she wouldn’t have liked him to just waste away to a husk without her or anything. They might be from Yorkshire, but this wasn’t Wuthering Heights. She just wanted a little jowl, or a clump of grey hair perhaps. A sign that he felt as utterly lovesick as she was. She’d been baking, crying and skiing like a madwoman all month. The fact that she had eaten half of what she made was a given. She’d even started making her own ice cream after she got sick of eating the low-fat stuff. The café customers loved it luckily. Between all the hand churning and the skiing, she’d managed to stay trim. Her hip didn’t ache any more. Being back on the slopes, trying to ski away her rage and heartbreak, she’d gotten her groove back. Her body responded to her better than ever before, and she felt herself smiling when she woke every morning. She was back. Those first ten glorious seconds when she woke, and she was a ski champion, living her life in the mountains. Then Luke puffed into her head, and she was back to crying, baking, eating and skiing. Sniffing the aftershave he left in the bathroom, and trying not to cry. Pathetic. The least he could do is look like he’d been mauled by a tiger or something.
‘Any more questions for me?’ she asked, when the conversation lulled. ‘I am so grateful to you guys for coming out, but I have a prior engagement.’ She went to stand, and most of the room stood with her. Waving them away, she gave a cheery wave to the cameras and headed off the stage. She headed towards the back, but Luke wasn’t where he was standing just a second before. Had he left?
She said hello to the guys on the door, walking out of the room and hearing the doors close behind her. The corridor was empty.
‘Looking for someone?’
She whirled back to the door, and there he was.
‘Yes. No.’
‘I don’t know anyone called No, sorry. Have you tried the front desk?’ His lip twitched. ‘Was it me?’
‘Who told you to come?’
‘No one told me to come, Becks. I came because I wanted to. Was it me, that you were looking for?’
‘Hans told you. Holly would never break the girl code, even with baby brain. I’m going to set his bloody beard on fire when my nephew is of age.’
‘Our nephew,’ he corrected softly.
‘Our nephew.’ She gave him that one.
‘And we own a sofa together. I like it.’
‘It is nice. How’s your dad?’
They could hear clapping behind them, and the shuffle of chairs and papers being moved around.
‘He’s not in hospital now. We’d better go.’
He held out his hand just as the doors opened, and Rebecca stopped as half the journalists in the room clocked the moment. She could see Andy give her a discreet thumbs-up behind his clipboard, and she turned and put her hand firmly in Luke’s. He squeezed it tight, his thumb stroking hers like two reunited swans.
‘Rebecca? Ice Rebel? Who’s the guy? A new ski partner? Can we have a name?’ A murmur was starting to buzz, they’d recognised Luke too.
‘A name, Rebecca?’
‘Is this your new man?’
‘Is he competing too?’
Luke was trying to walk her as briskly as possible out of the centre. ‘I’m sorry, oh I shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have left in the first place, but Dad … and I cocked it all up again. Jesus …’
He was looking at her as if she was going to go stellar on him again, and he was still trying to shield her from the reporters and rabble. Robbie would be there somewhere, enjoying every minute. Just feeling his hand in hers wasn’t doing enough to calm him down this time.
‘Let’s get out of here, we can get a cab and drive somewhere. Ditch them. I’ll fix it. Let me.’
Rebecca stood near the door, and turned around to face him, the small crowd slowing and surrounding them.
She grabbed his cheeks between her hands, and pulled him in for a kiss. He was still babbling away, but the second their lips met, he threw his arms around her, lifting her off the floor and kissing her with everything he had. When they finally came up for air, the crowd now loving every minute, clapping and whooping. The noise deafened them both.
‘Bubble,’ they said together, touching their foreheads together and laughing.
‘I’m sorry, Bec. And for leaving.’
‘You had to.’
‘Not like that. Never again.’
‘Till next week.’ He pulled his face away a little bit, but she kissed him again. ‘I’ve been talking to Mum. I’m due a visit.’
He grinned broadly, kissing her again. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘One minute. I want to introduce you. Can I?’
He flashed his white teeth at her. ‘Go for it.’
Turning to the crowd, Rebecca took Luke’s hand in hers, and he stood right with her. ‘I’d like to introduce to you the hot new competitor on the novice challenge, Luke Sommersby. My boyfriend.’
Andy started to clap, and the interviews that Robbie was conducting came to a grinding halt as the reporters all wandered over now. When the clapping finally finished, all eyes were on them.
‘Say hello Luke,’ she laughed when his face went white.
‘Hello,’ he stammered, pushing his glasses up his nose. Rebecca saw that he’d seen Robbie. His next words were loud, and as clear as a bell. ‘I’m Luke Sommersby. Mr Ice Rebel to my friends.’ The crowd laughed. ‘I am entering the competition for my father, Frank Sommersby, who is a huge fan of the sport, and my late mother Mariella Sommersby, who loved the snow too.’ He threw his arm around Rebecca. ‘And my girl, of course. Who is going to kick arse too, by the way. In the unlikely event that I win my challenge, I will be donating my prize money to a local centre in my hometown, who specialise in stroke care and rehabilitation. Their care of my father has been second to none.’ The reporters loved that, but she could tell Luke didn’t care.
‘As will I,’ she declared, laughing at Luke’s horrified face. The reporters were lapping it up, dancing around like little excited monkeys. Well, some of them did throw poo about for a living.
‘No Becks!’ he whispered, and she tapped him on the nose.
‘Oh, shut up, I love your dad. It’s not about the money, is it?’
‘I love you.’ His eyes bulged. ‘I didn’t mean that. I meant to say, er. No, sod it. I love you. I do.’ He pushed his glasses back up his nose. One of the reporters made an aww sound, and he looked across at them sheepishly. ‘Er, a minute, please?’
Andy took charge. ‘Come on, let’s give them a minute. We’ve got plenty here. Good to see you back, Becks,’ he waved, collaring a couple of the pushier ones and corralling them all towards the press lunch.
They headed away from there, Rebecca pushing Luke into the disabled toilet just around the corner. Locking the door behind them, they both listened outside.
‘Okay, coast’s clear.’
He reached for her, but she pushed him back a little.
‘Just let me get this out, okay?’
‘Right here? Kinky.’
‘Luuuke!’
They both shushed each other, and then shushed each other for shushing.
‘Sorry.’ He pressed his lips together tight, and pretended to zip it.
‘I’m a bit stubborn.’ His eyebrows hit the roof. ‘No, I am.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘I’m stubborn, and awkward. Or I thought I was, till I met you. You are a super dork.’ He nodded proudly. ‘When you entered that competition for me, you reminded me of Robbie. Of everything I had walked away from. I got mad. And you’re leaving, and I just thought well, good, that saves a conversation—’
He started to reach for the zipper.
‘Then I told you to go, and then I got hammered, and you were gone. I was mad at that too, even though I told you to go but still—’
He unzipped another couple of teeth, and she sped up.
‘Anyway, I got mad, and you weren’t here. And then you were here, and Mum said I was an idiot, but she was right, and—’
Another couple of teeth came unstuck, and Luke opened the corner of his mouth. He looked like a wonky duck.
‘And … and … and … I love you, and I want to win the competition. You were right, I can do this. All of it. I’m not going to hide anymore. Screw being scared. The best thing about it is, I love you. I said that, right? Before the ski monologue? Because that matters too Luke, just as much. More even.’ She took a deep breath, bending over at the stitch she had given herself. It felt like her stomach had just unknotted itself and was doing a victory dance. The ball of dread and worry dissolved. ‘Oh God!’ She jumped back up, slapping herself on the forehead. ‘I forgot to tell you, Hans wants to call the baby Thor. Please stop him before he tells Holly his idea.’ She panted again, catching her breath. ‘You can unzip now.’
Luke unzipped his mouth. ‘You love me.’ His big daft grin melted her on the spot.
‘I love you, yes.’
‘No more spare room?’
‘No more spare room.’
‘Good, I missed your bed this past month. The sheets back home just aren’t the same.’
‘Full of pee, probably.’
‘Ha. Probably.’ He reached behind her, turning the lock. ‘Let’s go home and test that theory.’
Heading out of the centre, arm in arm, Luke suddenly stopped dead.
‘What?’
‘Thor, really? Did he tell you that?’
Rebecca pulled him along, eager to get home. ‘No, I saw his baby name list.’
Luke giggled. ‘That was me.’
She slapped him on the shoulder. ‘You didn’t! I thought that was his idea!’
‘I did, but I doubt Holly will focus on that one. He had some weird ones himself. Eggbert was on there too.’
‘I know.’ She laughed again. ‘I added a few myself.’