The initial looks cleared from both of their faces when he introduced Sage and they sat down, everyone warmly greeting one another with either kissed cheeks or handshakes. Sage broke the ice smoothly by telling the same story she’d told him the previous night about her name and making both Charlotte and Steph laugh.

They ordered drinks and a selection of tapas to share and then Steph got straight down to business.

‘So, you’re all good with this . . .’ she motioned between herself, Charlotte and Darren, ‘arrangement?’

Sage grinned. ‘Oh look, it’s definitely a new one for me! But honestly, things are still so new between Daz and me. And who am I to get in the way of a couple creating life? To be honest, I think it’s amazing that he’s doing this.’

Darren was impressed with how easily she was slipping into character as his girlfriend. He couldn’t have met a more perfect person to play the role.

Charlotte nodded. ‘It is, it really is. We’re so grateful. And thank you for letting him.’

‘Oy,’ said Darren. ‘He can speak for himself! No one’s letting me do this. I happen to be the one making the decisions.’

‘Of course!’ said Charlotte. ‘Sorry.’

She looked more contrite than he’d expected and he felt bad. He’d only meant that as a joke. He realised that Charlotte was still nervous, and wondered if she thought he might change his mind. And he understood this meant he really couldn’t back out — not without crushing her heart, which was something he could never do.

‘So, there are some details we need to go over with you,’ said Steph. ‘Here’s the thing, we can’t afford to go through a clinic or anything like that — it’s too expensive. So, we need to look at doing this another way.’

Darren choked on his drink. ‘Holy shit. Do you want me to sleep with you?’

‘No!’

Darren let out a breath of air, while Sage helped him out. ‘And here I was worrying that things were going to get weird.’ They all started laughing.

‘Okay, so what we mean is that we need you to provide us with a donation,’ said Charlotte, ‘and then Steph would be inserting it herself at home . . . you know, turkey-baster style. I mean, not with an actual turkey baster. There’s this special type of syringe —’

Darren held up his hands. ‘Yep, that’s all I need to know. No more details required.’

‘Well,’ said Steph, ‘one more thing you need to know is that for this to have the best chance of working, we need to do it at the right time. And the sample needs to be . . . umm . . . fresh. So, we might have to call on you with short notice to create one quickly.’

‘All good. It’s not like my work isn’t flexible.’