Maybe you should be more worried about your own happiness levels rather than mine.’
He grinned, and then winced as the coffee burnt his tongue. Served him right for being smart.
‘Yeah. Maybe I should apply for the job vacancy over at the chapel.’ Melanie flashed her eyes at him in direct challenge.
Confusion clouded his handsome expression. He really was an easy target to reel in, like a little goldfish flapping on the end of a very large hook. Melanie licked her lips in anticipation. This going in for the big kill thing was addictive.
‘Job vacancy?’
‘Yeah, Marla’s assistant’s bound to be leaving soon. At least I’m guessing so, anyway.’ She paused, leaning back against the kitchen counter. ‘Seeing as how she’s having a baby, and all.’
Dan placed his almost untouched coffee onto the kitchen table.
‘Emily’s pregnant?’
‘Well, I don’t mean Dora, do I?’
Melanie laughed with the pleasure of the big reveal.
It was almost painful to watch. Dan’s expression went from self-satisfied to bewildered, and then to something else, something she didn’t quite understand. It wasn’t surprise, and it definitely wasn’t the face of a man casually lamenting the loss of his favourite piece of eye-candy. She leaned in a little, keen to know what was going on behind his baby blues.
‘You okay, Dan? You’ve gone a bit pale.’
‘What? No. I mean yes, course I am. ’Scuse me, love.’
Dan hightailed it out of the kitchen, leaving Melanie alone with just her coffee and her thoughts.
‘Curiouser and curiouser,’ she murmured, as her mind took the hop, skip and a jump towards the obvious conclusion.
As much as Emily knew that avoiding Dan wasn’t going to magic the problem away, she was still desperate not to have the conversation in the next few minutes. The park basked in the late afternoon sun, all dappled and lush. Glossy trees hid her from prying eyes. She’d suggested meeting here because it wasn’t her natural habitat and she hoped they wouldn’t run into anyone who knew them. Yet, give her a few months and no doubt it would become one of her regular stomping grounds.
She was just glad that she’d been alone when she’d answered the office telephone earlier. How the hell would she have explained her reaction to Marla or Jonny, or even worse, to Dora? She’d grown accustomed to carrying this secret around inside her, and every day it seemed to grow along with the baby. There was no denying her pregnancy now. She was, if the smug TV guru was to be listened to, ‘in her bloom’. Although, to be honest, she’d lost faith in the TV pregnancy guru some time back, right about the time that she’d started to bang on about the importance of involving ‘daddy’ in the pregnancy.
Oh God. What was she going to say? What was Dan going to think? He had every right to demand she at least talk to him. Should she lie? Maybe he’d secretly want her to say the baby was nothing to do with him so that he could wriggle off the hook. But then, any fool can add up, and though she didn’t know him well, he didn’t seem like a village idiot. Christ, it was hot. She stripped her flimsy cardigan off from over her sundress and closed her eyes as she leaned back and fanned herself with her hand.
It was only when she realized that her inefficient cooling system had dramatically improved that she opened her eyes to find Dan wafting her with a rolled up copy of the Sun.
‘Lookin’ swell, darlin’.’
He sat down next to her and looked at her little bump, his blue eyes far more serious than his words.
Emily scooted herself upright and automatically draped a protective arm over her middle. At least he didn’t seem angry – that had to be a start, right?
‘Why did you call, Dan?’
He shrugged and looked away for a few silent seconds, his eyes on an after school kick-about in the distance.
‘I don’t know. I heard about the baby today.’
Emily nodded with a heavy sigh. It had been inevitable that she’d find herself here, and she’d agonised over how she should play it. Now the moment had arrived she knew that the only option open to her was the absolute truth, but actually, saying the words was really, really hard.
‘Is it mine?’
Wow. He wasn’t pulling any punches. Straight in with the million-dollar question; the question that kept her awake into the small hours and haunted her restless dreams when she finally fell asleep. She’d answered it