‘What!’ said Clementine. ‘Don’t laugh! If you haven’t noticed this is quite an important job I’ve been tasked with here! I don’t want to screw it up!’

‘You’ll be fine afterwards,’ said the doctor. ‘Just go about your day.’

‘Okay,’ said Clementine. ‘I’m ready. Let’s do this.’

‘I’ll give you your privacy to get changed. Take off your bottom half, swing into the stirrups and try to put your bum as close to the edge as possible, like you did in your MOT. Put this piece of paper towel over you and I’ll be back in two, okay?’

‘Got it,’ said Clementine.

Penny read the posters on the wall as her sister changed. ‘Are you nervous?’ she asked. ‘Can I do anything?’

‘Nope,’ said Clementine. ‘Honestly, I feel super calm. Are you okay?’

‘I’m okay,’ said Penny. ‘I think.’

There was a light knock on the door. ‘Can I come in?’ the doctor said.

‘Yes!’ the two women harmonized.

‘Okay Clementine, if you could bring your bum down even more please …’

Clementine moved down the chair.

‘I’m now going to place the catheter through your cervix and into your uterus, which might feel slightly uncomfortable but should be pain-free, okay?’

‘Okay.’

My eggs could take and make a baby, Penny thought to herself. Any minute now I might be making a baby.

‘And that’s everything!’ the doctor said, almost right away. ‘Just sit here for a few minutes, and then you can get changed. And listen: try not to read anything into any changes you think you can feel, your breasts or gas or anything. It could all just be a side effect of the hormones, and as such it is imperative that you do not take a test at home. It’s possible to get a false positive, and when emotions are this fraught it’s better to leave it to us, okay? No matter how much you convince yourself you are pregnant. Come back for your blood tests in a couple of weeks – the nurse will let you know when.’

The two women nodded. That was it.

‘I am quite in awe of how she suggested we might relax, now,’ Penny said, as the pair left the clinic. ‘Like this isn’t potentially the biggest thing that has ever happened.’

‘Well, I know I should be nervous and everything but to be honest,’ Clementine replied, ‘right now I am simply starving. Do you want to go get some food?’

Penny nodded. ‘Yes. Absolutely. I would say let’s go and raise a glass of champagne to this, except, well, obviously we can’t do that. You know, just in case …’

Clementine smiled. ‘Come on, I’ll treat us to Berner’s Tavern.’

‘No, no, no!’ Penny said. ‘Obviously lunch is my treat!’ She looped her arm through Clementine’s. ‘This way,’ she guided her sister. ‘I know a shortcut.’