‘My biggest fear is that once I tell Wei he’ll feel obliged to stay with me because of the baby. As much as I don’t relish the idea of raising a child alone, even worse would be for him to feel trapped. Look what …’

Hayley snapped her mouth shut but I knew immediately what she’d been about to say. Babies changed things—getting pregnant had meant Adrian and I were linked forever and look how that had ended. But Hayley was my age; if she wanted to have children, she couldn’t afford to let this opportunity go.

‘You’re not stupid, Hayls,’ I said, ‘but you can’t try and guess how Wei will feel about this. You need to talk to him and be totally honest. When you tell him you’re pregnant, his initial reaction will tell you exactly how he feels.’

‘But what if I don’t like what I see?’

I swallowed. ‘Then you’ll come straight back here, and we’ll commiserate over choc-mint ice-cream.’ (Her favourite.) ‘But if you don’t tell him, you’ll drive yourself crazy and sooner or later, he’ll work it out for himself.’

‘You’re right. I guess there’s no time like the present.’ Hayley pushed to a stand. ‘Thanks, Ash, I don’t know what I’d do without you.’

‘The feeling’s mutual,’ I told her as I walked her to the front door, hugged her tightly and then watched her drive off into the night.

I’m pleased to report I didn’t see my sister-in-law again that night.

Chapter 47

47

Ragged Point

‘Fancy meeting you here.’

I jumped at the sound of Dan’s voice and whirled around to find him standing almost immediately behind me in the aisle of the general store. ‘You almost gave me a heart attack.’

He winked. ‘Lucky I know mouth-to-mouth.’

I felt a jolt inside my stomach at his words. Was he flirting with me? I could never quite tell where Dan was concerned, and I didn’t know how I’d feel if he was. My body said one thing and my brain said another. My heart had no idea how it felt.

‘Haha.’ I tried not to sound affected at all. ‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’

‘I’m on my lunch break. Lion wasn’t great this morning, he’s off his food again, so I came to buy something different.’ He gestured to the basket in his hand that held lots of little tins—looked to be one of every variety the general store stocked.

‘Oh, no,’ I said. ‘Do you think you should take him to the vet?’

‘We went on Friday, and she couldn’t find anything physically wrong. She said she thinks he’s just getting old and probably feeling unsettled not being on the island. Maybe I should take him back?’ Dan shrugged. ‘Anyway, how was your week in Perth?’