“Something has happened and I thought you should know.”

He leans back and crosses his arms, his biceps threatening to rip a hole in his top.

“What?”

I knew he wouldn’t make this easy for me. Maybe I should retreat while I still can. I know an angry Pete when I see one.

“Look, I’m sorry I was so harsh last time we… when we”

“After we’d made love and I told you I wanted to be with you forever.”

I look at my hands clasped on the table rather than the hurt written on his face.

“I wasn’t ready to have you back in my life, Pete.”

This isn’t going the way I’d planned at all.

“If you’d been offered a job like the one I was presented with, tell me honestly, Trish, would you have turned it down? For me?”

“It wasn’t just about the job. You slept with someone, remember? And you left without even trying to save our relationship. You could have asked me to go with you to Sydney.”

Damn! Why don’t I just stop? All this has been said before.

Pete is silent. He stares at me like my sole purpose is to make his life a misery.

“Could you say what you need to so I can leave, please?” he growls.

I sit up straighter and breathe in. “I’m pregnant,” I whisper. “And there’s a fifty per cent chance you’re the dad.”

Oh, God. It sounds even worse when I say it out loud.

Pete stays completely still. Apart from a twitching left cheek, his expression is stony.

“You’re pregnant,” he states loudly. “Well that’s fucking perfect.”

It’s like he’s slapped me across the face.

“Sorry?”

Pete uncrosses his arms and leans forwards.

“I came back from Sydney with the sole purpose of getting back together with you, Trish. It was all I wanted and when you made it clear you didn’t feel the same, I was devastated. I’ve spent the last few months doing everything I could to try to get over you. I saw a psychologist, a psychiatrist, I fasted for a week, I gave up alcohol, I climbed a mountain, I even meditated, for fuck’s sake. And now you spring this on me.”

I can’t say a thing over the lump in my throat.

“I’m sorry I can’t be more supportive, Trish,” he says, his voice low. “I can’t throw my arms around you and say how wonderful this news is. I can’t tell you that I don’t mind at all that you were shagging someone else when I thought we were getting back together. And I definitely can’t tell you that I hope I’m the dad.”

I start to breathe heavily, in and out, in and out.

Pete watches me, waiting for a reaction. But I won’t give him one.