“Be careful what you presume,” says Rachel, looking at Ali. “You never know what goes on behind closed doors.”
“Steady on,” says Jack, laughing nervously. “I don’t think anybody needs the rundown.”
“Oh, I think we do,” says Ali, leaning forward, all ears.
“So, Jack…” starts Rachel, to a chorus of “whoas.” It’s hard to tell who they’re coming from among the calls of “TMI,” “go on” and “urgh, he’s my brother.”
“Spill,” urges Ali, talking to Rachel, but looking at Jack.
“I’ll spare his blushes,” says Rachel. “But we’re having a very nice time at the moment, aren’t we?”
Jack looks around awkwardly.
“Come on,” says Ali. “You’re among friends. If we can’t tell our friends about the fun we have, who can we tell?”
“You might want to think about keeping it to yourself,” says Paige, sagely.
Normally, Rachel would agree with her, but after Ali’s assumption that she and Jack are doing the missionary position, and only on Wednesdays, she feels compelled to put her straight.
She wants to say that since Josh had left home for university, all she and Jack ever seemed to do was have sex. They’d shared candlelit baths, being serenaded by Marvin Gaye; she’d unzipped him one Sunday afternoon while he was sitting in the lounge reading the paper, and he’d even interrupted the unloading of the dishwasher last week, apparently unable to wait until they were in bed.
“Well, since Josh has been gone, we’ve not known quite what to do with ourselves, have we?” She chastises herself for making it sound as if their sex life had been dead up until then. “Of course, once Josh was old enough to go out to parties, we’d have a bottle of champagne with dinner, and a naughty session of foreplay in the living room, just because we could.”
Ali shakes her head, as if she’s shocked. “I gotta give it to you Rach, you’re a dark horse.” She laughs to herself. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
Relishing in her newfound role of surprising people, Rachel goes on. “Though, that came to a rather abrupt end the night Josh and his mates couldn’t get into the pub, so decided to come back to ours instead.”
She smiles at Jack, but his eyes stay focused awkwardly on the flickering flames of the fire.
His discomfort is enough to stop her from saying that they couldn’t get up the stairs quick enough, the pair of them breathless from the sudden interruption and the full-on exertion needed to get out of the lounge before the boys piled in. And that it was only when they had collapsed giggling behind the closed door of their bedroom that Rachel remembered she’d left her knickers on the sofa.
“You forget how it used to be, before kids, is all I’m saying,” she says.
“So, normal service resumes once they leave home, does it?” says Paige.
“It’s better than normal.” Rachel smiles.
“Your Chloe will be off to college before too long, won’t she?” asks Ali, her eyes wide, both literally and metaphorically.
“That’s the plan,” says Noah, crossing his fingers.
“Is that you wishing for your daughter’s success, or the promise of more blow jobs?” says Ali, laughing hysterically.
Noah smiles and looks at Will. “I’m afraid to say that once you’re pronounced man and wife, you won’t know what a blow job is. Oral sex and marriage don’t make for good bedfellows.”
“We’re never going to let that side of our relationship go,” says Ali, rubbing her hand up and down Will’s thigh. “Not even when we have children.”
Paige snorts. “You won’t have a choice. As soon as you have kids, you’re in for eighteen years of worrying whether they’re going to walk in.”
Ali shakes her head vehemently.
“You mark my words,” says Paige, laughing at her naivety. “Your sex life will be confined to unspontaneous fumblings under a duvet when you would both far rather go to sleep.”
“We’ll always make time for each other,” says Ali, kissing Will on the lips.
“Then I suggest you don’t have kids,” says Paige.
“We want them as soon as possible,” says Will, looking at Ali. “Don’t we?”
She nods frantically. “We’re going to start trying as soon as we’re married.”
“On our wedding night?” asks Will, laughing.