“Well, I’d always imagined myself actually living with my wife.”

“W-wife? You mean you want to get married right away? Don’t engagements last years?”

“They could, but why wait? I want you to become Mrs. Stratton as soon as possible…”

Mrs. Stratton. It sounds so grown up.

“I want to start a family with you, have children…”

“C-children?” I swear the house is shrinking. The walls are imploding.

“And I’m freaking you out big time.”

“No, no.” I move away from him and go sit on the couch. “It’s just that it’s all happening so fast. Ten days ago we’d never even discussed getting married and now we’re having kids already.”

“We’re not having kids.” Richard smiles at me and sits next to me. “I’m just saying I want them one day after we’re married. You want to have children, right?”

“Yes, of course. As you said, one day. It’s a huge, scary change.”

“It is. So, speaking of weddings, my mum asked me if we’d set a date yet. I told her we’d pick one soon. Want to have a look at the calendar?”

“Sure,” I say with the enthusiasm of a zombie.

“Would you prefer a summer or winter wedding?”

“Summer, I guess.”

“Me too. What do you say to early September?”

September, next year. Eighteen months from now. A waiting time equal to two consecutive pregnancies should be enough for me to adjust to the idea. “I like September.”

“The first is a Saturday; don’t you think that’d be perfect?”

“Wait, isn’t that this year’s calendar?”

“Of course.”

“You mean this September, as in six months?”

“Yes. Why, don’t you?”

Six months from now. Not even one full pregnancy. “Does that leave us enough time to organize everything?”

“That could depend. Do you want a big wedding?”

“No, absolutely not. The simpler, the better.”

“Then it shouldn’t be a problem to get it running in six months.”

I just scored the auto goal of the millennium. “No, I guess not.”

“You want to do it here or back in the States?”

“London. Organizing it in the States would be a nightmare.” I can’t marry Richard in the same town where I met Jake. Definitely not.

“Do you ever miss home?”

“Of course I do.”

“Ever thought of moving back?”

“Maybe. Eventually, yeah, it could be a possibility. Would you hate it?”

“Actually, no. I’ve always had this dream of living in New York, building a business that was mine.”

“You want to start a marketing agency? You could do it here.”

“I was thinking more an online magazine, a liberal place, a new voice…” He stares up at the ceiling with a dreamy expression. “Would you consider moving to New York?”

“Why New York?”

“It’d be the place to be.”

“Is this a real conversation or a hypothetical one?”