He sat back and drank some water. I would have bet my house that he wished it was vodka. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” I stood up, took some money for my drink out of my purse, and put it on the table. “Maybe you should watch it.”

“Don’t go yet,” he said. “What are we going to do about it? About the baby?”

“We’re not doing anything about anything.” I put my face down close to his. “I am happily married. I love my husband. You and I had one night. One night! And you think that’s enough to get me pregnant?”

“One night, maybe, but three times.”

I flushed. “It makes no difference,” I said. “Don’t come near me again.”

•   •   •

I hurried back to my office. Annie was talking to someone in the kitchen at the end of the corridor so I managed to sneak into our office to pick up my emergency toiletry bag from my desk drawer. In the bathroom I brushed my teeth and tried to sort out my hair and face. I still looked shocking, though, and when Annie came back into our office, she took one look at me and said, “Are you okay? You look terrible! You should go home to bed.”

“I will, just as soon as we’ve talked about your meeting in London.” She was going there that morning to talk to a couple of fashion designers about their new website, and we needed to go through some figures and dates before she went.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “I can call you from the train. Have you caught a bug?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t be bothered trying to fool her; she’d know soon enough. “No, nothing like that.”

“What is it? Have you had bad news?”

“Not bad news,” I said, though in a way it really, really was. “Most people would see it as good news.”

I watched the cogs fall slowly into place. Her eyes opened wide. “You are kidding. Really?”

I nodded and we started to laugh.

“This is wonderful.” She hugged me tightly. “Congratulations. How many weeks are you?”

“My last period started on May sixteenth, so that makes it seven weeks. A pregnancy is dated from the first day of my last period, right?”

Annie nodded. “That confused the life out of Patrick when I got pregnant.” She laughed. “He was convinced I was wrong and tried to challenge the midwife. She soon set him straight. Have you told your mum yet?”

I tried not to think of how that conversation would go, if Tom was the father. “No, I’m trying not to tell anyone, just for a bit longer.”

“Until the scan?”