‘In the meantime, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables and steer clear of booze. Oh and one more thing: I don’t have your address on the system?’

‘Well, the fruit and veg isn’t a problem,’ I said with a grin. ‘But I live on a vineyard, I work for Butterworth Wines.’

Issy’s eyes twinkled. ‘I get the feeling you and I are going to be friends.’

I almost hugged her; little did she know I could use a friend right now.

Chapter 19

It was another ten days before I saw my other new friend again. It was Saturday afternoon and I’d just emerged from The Stables when Jensen pulled his car into the yard.

‘Wow, look at you.’ Jensen’s deep blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he greeted me with a kiss. ‘I didn’t realize blooming was an actual thing before. But you are definitely blooming.’

‘That’ll be my permanently red cheeks. Not to mention,’ I continued, waffling to cover up the fact that I was quite shocked with how pleased I was to see him again, ‘that blooming is another way of saying that I’m bursting out of my clothes.’

I didn’t know whether it was psychosomatic, but in the two weeks since I’d found out I was pregnant, I’d ballooned. My stomach didn’t look any different, but my face looked like a full moon, my waist had disappeared and all I could get into, bra-wise, were a couple of sporty crop tops I’d bought when I was going through a yoga phase. At this rate, there’d be no need to break the news to the rest of the team; they’d have to be blind not to notice there was a lot more of me than there’d been when I’d arrived at the vineyard eight weeks ago.

Jensen’s eyes flicked momentarily to my enormous bosom. I coughed.

‘Um. I hadn’t noticed,’ he said, running a hand through his floppy curls. ‘But you’re feeling okay?’

‘Well …’ I hesitated.

Physically I was fine, I’d stopped being sick and after weeks of needing early nights and having to drag myself out of bed in the morning, I had more energy than I knew what to do with. Mentally, however, I was still struggling: with a pregnancy I hadn’t planned and with worrying thoughts about Harvey and what he was going to say and do when he found out I was carrying his child. And then there was the rift between Evie and me. I’d phoned and sent numerous messages which she hadn’t returned; I’d even been to her house but if she’d been in she didn’t come to the door. I missed her so much; we’d always been there for each other and I didn’t know how to make things right.