‘I understand. It’s unfair of me to ask this of you — especially when we’d already made the decision. Although . . . can I ask . . . when did we make the decision? I mean, I know when we got together we thought probably not. But at what stage did it become definitive for us?’

Tony shrugged. ‘I don’t know, I just thought we’d basically been on the same page since day one. And not to sound harsh, but we’re not exactly spring chickens. I figured as time went on, we were happy with things staying the way they are. Are you not happy anymore?’

Andrea was thrown by the question . . . and even more so when the answer didn’t come instantly. Was she unhappy? She thought about all the ways Tony seemed to have changed since they’d married. About his cruel snipe a moment ago about her ‘playing mum’.

But then she thought about the way he’d asked her all the right questions just now. The exact things she’d been desperate for him to ask. Besides, marriage wasn’t meant to be easy, was it? A good relationship was something you worked at. So what was her answer?

‘No,’ she said, ‘it’s not that. I’m still happy. I just wasn’t sure if I’d made the wrong choice about kids. Or made the right choice but for the wrong reasons. That’s all. But I still want to be with you.’

Tony smiled. ‘How about this? I know we don’t have long left if we were to have kids, but could you give me a bit of time to think things through? Maybe . . . I don’t know, I’m not saying yes . . . but maybe, I could work through some feelings. See if I can find a way to come around to the idea of me as a dad. Can we leave it for a short while and revisit again? See how both of us feel in a few months?’

‘Of course. That’s completely fair.’

Throughout the rest of dinner, they turned to lighter subjects. Tony was a little more subdued than he’d been after his successful chat to the high school students, but generally speaking, things were comfortable enough between them.