‘Do they?’ I’m not so sure. ‘Was she just walking past one day and suddenly you found yourself shagging her over the desk?’

The horrified look on Jake’s face tells me that I’m not a million miles wide of the mark. Good grief.

‘We just weren’t on the same wavelength anymore,’ Jake blusters on.

‘And she is?’

‘She’s different,’ he says. ‘She’s not like you. She wants what I want.’

And I hesitate to suggest that it might be a good kicking.

‘She has interests outside the contents of Mothercare,’ Jake says, twisting the knife. ‘She’s gritty. She’s ballsy.’

‘She looks like she could throw a javelin to Olympic standard.’

‘You’ve seen her?’

‘Of course I have,’ I say. ‘I’ve seen you together.’

‘Then you’ll know why I’m attracted to her.’

It’s my turn to stay silent.

‘Our lives had reduced down to nothing,’ Jake says. ‘You have lost your verve for life. All you think about is getting pregnant. Men don’t care about having babies. We might pretend to. It might even amuse us for a while, but we don’t really care. Not like women care.’

‘Does she want children?’

Jake laughs. ‘No. Neve wants to climb mountains and surf fifty-foot waves. She has very broad horizons.’

She has broad hips too, but I think it’s best not to mention that at this juncture.

‘She’s going to Everest soon.’ There’s a tinge of pride in his voice. ‘The woman has a lot of guts.’

I think it takes a lot of guts to let your boyfriend inject your arse with a cocktail of fertility hormones, but I don’t mention that either.

‘So, that’s it,’ I say. ‘You didn’t need time to think. It sounds as if you’ve thought a lot about it already.’

‘I have,’ Jake admits.

‘I’ll go to Edie’s while you get your things together,’ I say. ‘I can’t bear to watch you leave again.’

‘I’m sorry about this, Lyssa. I did love you. If things had been different…’

‘If I hadn’t wanted a baby?’

‘Maybe.’

‘I think that’s the saddest thing out of all this, Jake. I could forgive the lying and the cheating—probably. But it’s the fact that we’ve spent so much time and energy and money pursuing a dream that I didn’t know was mine alone. When were you going to tell me?’

‘I tried,’ he says. ‘I did try. But you didn’t want to listen.’

‘I’ll get my coat,’ I say. ‘I’ll stay at Edie’s for a couple of hours…that should give you enough time to move out permanently.’

I get up and walk to the cupboard under the stairs where we keep our coats and I pull out the warmest one I can lay hands on because I feel chilled down to the bone.