Jack followed her into the boathouse. It was a lot more messy than his – loads of rope and the walls packed with fishing gear. A huge rowboat made from wood, placed on rafters in the middle, caught his attention.

‘I hope you don’t mean in the boat? It looks damn uncomfortable,’ he said to make her laugh.

Ninni took his hand and pulled him with her. ‘Up here.’ She climbed a small ladder, disappearing through a door. ‘Watch your head.’

He followed her up, curious as to what was up there. He stopped on top of the ladder and looked in. ‘What is this? A guest house?’

‘No, this is my place. Sort of a tree house, if you know what I mean.’

Ninni sat on a narrow bed with her legs stretched out. She cocked her head. ‘Are you coming?’

Jack climbed up the rest of the ladder and joined her on the bed. ‘This is very practical,’ he said, letting his fingers run over her warm skin.

‘We are a practical people,’ Ninni said, laughing softly.

‘You know, I thought you were going to teach me fishing today,’ he said.

‘There’s plenty of time for that when you come back,’ Ninni said.

She pushed away all thoughts of doctors and every word Britt had said. It wasn’t true, anyway.

Chapter 17

Ninni stared at the doctor, wondering who the crazy one was, herself or the doctor. ‘Sorry?’

‘You’re pregnant,’ the doctor said.

Ninni had no idea how to respond. For some reason she was angry with Britt for sending her to the surgery. Which was absurd.

‘Erm … I wasn’t really expecting it to be true,’ she finally said.

The doctor looked sympathetic. ‘Oh, I see. You’re not happy. Well, you have options, you know. It’s not too late to terminate if that’s what you want to do. When was your last period?’

Ninni tried to think, but her brain didn’t function. ‘I’ve always been irregular, so I don’t have an exact date. Sometimes it jumps a month or two. I never gave it a second thought, to be honest.’ She felt like a complete idiot and, from the look on the doctor’s face, she thought so too.

‘Oh, I see. In that case, I should think you’re about eight to nine weeks in. That gives you, at the most, two to three weeks to make up your mind.’

Ninni thought about Karl, trying to count back to when this could have happened. She had received the photograph from his wife an hour before he’d arrived, and hadn’t even let him into the flat.

It made her sick thinking about it.

Ninni cleared her throat. ‘I’m on the pill, for God’s sake. Doesn’t that make this almost impossible?’

The doctor smiled. She had a kind face. ‘I think the magic word here is almost. Even the pill isn’t one hundred per cent, I’m afraid. I think it’s about one in one hundred, if I remember correctly. Which is good, unless you’re the one, then of course it’s not.’