‘I think Jake is going to be a wonderful dad,’ he smiled.

‘I think you both will be. I’m so proud of you. Have you told your parents, Dan?’

‘No, heading over there at the weekend. I’m a bit nervous, actually.’

‘Why? It’s such wonderful news!’ She put her hand to her throat. ‘It hasn’t fully sunk in yet. A baby . . .’

‘Yeah, it is wonderful news.’ Daniel drew invisible loops on the tabletop with his finger. ‘But you’ve met my parents . . .’ He paused. ‘It takes them a while to get their head around stuff – first me being gay, then me getting married, and now a baby.’

‘It might take them a while, Dan, but that’s okay, so long as they get there in the end – and just you wait until they meet him. It’ll be a scrum, all of us trying to hold him. I can’t wait!’

‘I’m nervous too about being a dad.’ He licked his lips.

‘Of course you are – it’s a big deal, a big change, but a wonderful change. It was for Mario and me, certainly. It made us, becoming parents, and it’s the thing I’m proudest of, Dan, even if I don’t always get it right.’ She rubbed her palms together; the skin still smarted from where Mario had rejected her hand. She would ask him why later – use it to pave the way for the conversation that would make amends.

‘Oh, I think you’ve done a pretty good job.’

She liked the way he spoke to her, saw how much he valued Jake, who had stolen both their hearts.

‘And I know it’s going to be a wonderful change, but—’ He hesitated.

‘What?’ She sat down at the table opposite him.

‘I adore Jake.’ He smiled at the mention of his name. ‘But he can be—’ Again he paused, as if reminded that she was his mum. ‘How can I put it . . . ? I worry how he’ll cope with the disruption of a baby in our lives. I mean, we both want him, of course we do – we’ve spoken about nothing else since the day we met!’ This was news to her, delightful news that split her face with a smile. ‘But I think out of the two of us, I’m more practical and Jake sometimes has his head so deep in a work project it’s like nothing else exists!’ He raised his palms. ‘God knows I love him, but I worry about it – how he’ll adapt.’

‘It’s as I was saying earlier, Dan, you can never be fully prepared for parenthood. You can read all the books, take all the advice, but you kind of have to live it to learn it. Does that make sense?’

‘It does.’ He smiled at her. ‘And I guess all that matters is that I really love him.’

‘You do, don’t you?’