‘Hey,’ her friend interrupted. ‘If everyone thought about the decision to have children logically, there would be barely any babies born at all and they’d all come out with silver spoons in their mouths. Having a child is always difficult, and if you didn’t want it, that would be fine too. But if you want it, then everything else is a problem that can be solved.’

‘That easy?’

‘I never said it would be easy. In fact, I think you can probably bet it’ll be anything but that. But women in worse positions than you have had babies and the world hasn’t ended.’

Anna leaned forward and put her head to her knees. ‘Oh, God. This is insane. What was I thinking?’

‘I’m guessing that in the moment there wasn’t really that much thinking involved…’

‘If I keep it, I’m going to have to tell Liam. How on earth do I do that? “Hi, I know we said that the thing between us was casual, nothing more than a bit of fun, and we’ve both already moved on and I also know you’re about to go home and this is going to be a massive bombshell, but just so you know, you’re going to be a father.” Oh, God. It’s going to be awful.’

‘Well,’ Cathy said, ‘playing devil’s advocate here: he’ll be gone very soon. You probably won’t even be showing much by then, and if he’s never coming back…’

‘That would be a terrible thing to do.’

‘Probably. On the other hand, he might think ignorance is bliss. This needs to be your decision, Anna. If you went to him and told him you wanted it and he said he didn’t – or vice versa, for that matter – I know you, you’d put what he wants first because Geoff has spent decades convincing you that’s how a relationship works. And it can’t, not in this. You’ll be the one living with the results of the decision. Either way, he’ll be on the other side of the planet doing exactly what he always planned to do.’

Anna groaned. ‘I need to think. I need to live with the idea of actually having a baby for a day or two. See how that changes things.’

‘All right, you do that. Call me any time you want to talk, all right? And remember, there is no wrong decision unless it goes against what you want. Steve and I will be here to support you whatever you decide. Okay?’

Anna let out a long breath. ‘Thanks.’

‘Chin up, chick,’ Cathy said, putting on an absurd Northern accent. ‘You’ll be reet.’

Anna laughed. ‘I miss you.’

‘I miss you, too. Thanks for telling me. And listen – whatever happens, everything’s going to be all right. Okay?’