‘Tessa?’

‘Unless you have another sister, yes.’

‘What’s Tessa got to do with this?’

‘I can’t tell you. I don’t want you to shout at me. And I think you’ll listen more to her. So please, call Tessa.’

The phone went dead.

Call his sister? She wasn’t friends with Lindsey. They were in the same year at school, but they only knew each other through him.

He dialled home. His sister picked up immediately.

‘Hi,’ she said. She sounded uncomfortable. He could picture her expression; when she was about to say something that might be controversial, she got a look on her face that was part tentativeness, part determination.

‘I’m in a phone box. Call me back.’

The phone rang a few seconds later.

‘So,’ he said, when he picked up. ‘I just talked to Lindsey. She told me – something – and said I need to call you.’

‘I know. She said she’d ask you to call me.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t get it. Are you guys friends now?’

‘Good friends. We go out every weekend.’

He closed his eyes. For fuck’s sake. He simply couldn’t shake her.

‘You do? And she told you what happened?’

‘Of course she did. She told me earlier this week at college.’

‘And you didn’t call me?’

‘She asked me not to. She wanted time to think before she talked to you.’

‘Right,’ he said. He looked over his shoulder. A girl with dark red hair was waiting to use the phone booth. He gestured to his watch and gave an apologetic shrug. ‘What did she want to think about?’

‘About her options.’

There were options? Other than an abortion. His mouth was dry, and it wasn’t a hangover.

‘And why did she want me to call you?’

‘Because she wanted me to tell you what she’s going to do. She didn’t want to tell you herself. She said you’d be angry.’

What he wanted to do was shout that’s a bloody excuse. She’s playing games, but that would make him sound angry. Which would be kind of proving her point. He took a deep breath. ‘What’s she going to do?’

‘She’s made up her mind, Matt. She’s thought about it a lot.’

‘And?’

He had a horrible, sinking feeling that he knew exactly what Tessa was going to say.

‘She’s going to have the baby.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘No way. She’s not thinking about it clearly. She’s too young. We’re both too young!’

‘She wants to have the baby.’

Matt took the receiver from his ear and rested it against his chest. Lindsey was pregnant, and she was going keep it. She was going to be a mum.

He was going to be a dad.

He lifted the receiver to his ear. Tessa was in the middle of saying something.