“Not to me.”

He laughed again, as if she’d made a joke, then he passed her a mug of tea, one-handed, and went back to get his own. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh?” said Lauren.

“I think we need to buy a bigger bed.”

“Oh,” she said. “OK. But the room isn’t really big enough for anything larger, Patrick; didn’t we talk about this before?”

“Let’s do it, babe.”

Still balancing the baby on one shoulder, he put his tea down on the windowsill then pushed enough items onto the floor from the couch that he could squeeze in next to Lauren. “I don’t care if we have to get rid of the wardrobe. Anything that might make it easier to sleep. I had a terrible night last night.”

“Me too,” she said. “They seem to be getting up at different times, don’t they? One after the other, like a relay. I feel like I just get my head on the pillow and they’re hungry again.”

“Huh,” said Patrick, “you did get some sleep, though. You were kicking me. You nearly pushed me out at one point.”

“Did I? I don’t remember.”

“Well, you were asleep. Snoring away. Then the babies started crying, of course, and I had to get up and fetch them for you. I’m really struggling today. I think I probably got about three hours, in total.”

He gave a pained groan as he leaned back into the cushions.

“Oh, well,” said Lauren. “Sorry about that, I guess.”

“If I had a bit more room in the bed it might improve things. If we both did, I mean. Space for you to stretch out—you still do that starfish thing.”

“I do?”

She always woke up in a foetal position, clutching a pillow. But no one really knows what they do when they’re asleep, do they? Perhaps it was as bad as he said. “I suppose, if you need to, why don’t you sleep in the spare room tonight?”

“Are you sure?” he answered immediately. “That’s a great idea. I think I will. Thank you.”

He kissed her on the side of the head and reached over the top of her for his mug.

“So I guess I’ll just call you, shall I? If I need help, changing the babies and so on.”

Patrick became very still. His jaw clenched.

“What?” said Lauren.

“Oh, nothing. I was just kind of hoping for a night, just one, where I don’t have to wake up at all.”

“But Patrick—”

“I know, it’s selfish of me.”

“Well, sort of—”

“I just thought, and I know it sounds awful, but perhaps it’s time for you to start learning how to handle the boys on your own. Like, a practice run—for when I really won’t be around to help you.”

“A what? What are you saying?”

Patrick put his tea down again and slid from the couch onto his knees in front of her. He gazed up at her through his long lashes. Riley, a frond of cuteness in his leaf-green vest, feet she could eat, wriggled and yawed and did a tiny burp. She reached out and rubbed the baby’s back where he lay snuggled against his father. In her other arm, Morgan kept suckling, eyes shut, milky-dreamy.