‘And I’m not saying that I won’t tell him. I’m just saying not yet. I’m barely four weeks pregnant. There’s no harm in keeping it to myself, and you,’ she added, ‘for a couple more weeks whilst I think through all the implications.’
Maggie gave a little nod in recognition of the validity of the point.
‘And how do you think he’ll react?’ she asked.
Without having met him, Maggie had no way of predicting this for herself, Angie realised. Then again, Angie wasn’t entirely sure she could call it, either.
‘I think he’ll be shocked at first,’ she replied. ‘But then I think he’ll like the idea.’
‘And if he doesn’t . . . ?’
Maggie always did this – asked the question that Angie would rather not know the answer to.
‘If he doesn’t then he can swivel,’ she said with more vitriol than she had expected. ‘But I think he’ll be okay with it.’
Maggie nodded, accepting this. ‘And what about you?’ she asked more gently. ‘How do you feel?’
‘I’m excited,’ Angie said. And as she said it, she realised that she really was.
‘Well, I have news too,’ said Maggie with a smile, ‘although it’s pretty paltry by comparison to yours.’
‘Oh yes?’ said Angie, taking a slurp of her drink and pulling a face as she tasted orange juice and not the alcohol that her brain had clearly been expecting.
‘I’ve been asked out. On an actual date,’ said Maggie, one eyebrow raised.
Maggie’s love life was quiet, to say the least. In all the time they had been friends, Angie had never known her go out with anyone for more than a couple months.
‘My life is my work,’ Maggie had said more than once. ‘When I’m busy there isn’t time for a relationship and when I’m quiet I just want to sleep to get ready for when I’m busy again.’
‘But don’t you get lonely?’ Angie had asked. She had stressed the last word, the question really being about the apparent lack of sex in Maggie’s life, but Maggie had batted the question away.
‘Not really. I have all I need.’
Angie wasn’t sure how this could be true. Then again, didn’t she survive for most of the time on her own, Jax only making the trip north every few months? She wasn’t pining away from lack of human touch. But then she knew that it was there for her, however infrequently. Angie had difficulty believing that Maggie was quite the island that she made herself out to be, and yet Maggie just kept proving her wrong.
‘Who’s the lucky bloke?’ Angie asked now.
Maggie’s cheeks bloomed and Angie grinned at her. Here they were, thirty-three years old and Maggie still blushed when she talked about boys. It was sweet really.
‘His name is Adam,’ Maggie said, ‘and he’s a pension lawyer. He lives near Thirsk and he has a golden retriever called Charlie.’
‘I hope he’s more interesting than he sounds,’ Angie said, laughing. ‘Pensions! Christ. Is he sexy?’
Maggie contemplated the question for a moment.
‘Define sexy,’ she replied eventually.
‘You know. Does your heart race when you see him? Does he make you want to pull him into the nearest stationery cupboard and bonk the arse off him?’
Maggie contemplated further.
‘No,’ she concluded. ‘But he is perfectly pleasant, and he doesn’t talk about pensions the whole time.’
‘Oh, well he sounds practically perfect,’ said Angie sarcastically.
Maggie gave her a stern look. ‘It’s just a dinner date, Ange. I’m not about to marry him.’
‘Bloody good job,’ said Angie. She let a beat go by and then she said, ‘Tiger rang last week. He’s in Andalucía, near Granada somewhere. He says the Alhambra is beautiful and that I need to get myself over there. Practical to the last, eh?’
Angie knew it was wicked of her to tag Tiger on to a conversation about sexy men, but she couldn’t help herself. She watched Maggie carefully for the reaction that she knew would come.
Maggie set her face into an expression of feigned indifference and said, ‘Oh? How is he?’
‘Same as ever,’ replied Angie. ‘The happy wanderer.’
Maggie nodded, and Angie let a pause punctuate the conversation. Maggie would never be drawn on her feelings for Tiger. Angie had thought it was something to do with not wanting to step on her toes, and she had tried more than once to make it clear that her own friendship with Tiger was almost totally platonic, but still Maggie kept her counsel.