Page 25 of One Day at a Time

Maybe he was still in shock. Telling him had been one of the most incredible moments of her life. She’d watched a million TikTok and Instagram reels, where women came up with all sorts of cute ways to tell their partners the news. Her personal favourite was a woman who put a You’re Going To Be A Daddy tag on a cockerpoo’s collar. That one racked up a million views, but since she didn’t have a TikTok following, or a dog, in the end Orla had just put the test on the kitchen table before he came home from work.

‘Hey, gorgeous,’ he’d greeted her, as always, with a kiss, and if she held on to him for a little longer than usual, he didn’t notice. ‘I’m just going to grab a shower and I’ll be back down.’

Again, all completely normal. She’d thought about directing his attention to the table, but held the secret. Better to wait until he had washed the day off. She was standing in front of the sink, washing a glass for the tenth time, when he returned, in shorts and a T-shirt, his brown wavy hair still wet and pushed back from his face.

‘What’s for dinner, babe? I thought you’d still be at work, so I was just going to rustle up a Caesar salad and a steak.’

‘I’ve already done it,’ she’d said. ‘The steaks are out on the barbeque, the salad is in the fridge, and I made some garlic bread too. And here…’ She’d handed him a bottle of beer that she’d had waiting for him, and he’d responded with the same easy, gorgeous smile that had made her fall for him on the first night they’d met.

‘What did I do to deserve all this?’ he’d asked, kissing heragain, his thumb tracing her cheek as she inhaled the scent of his shower gel. Oh, that felt good. This felt like… Like it did before sex became something else. If there wasn’t something so much more important on tonight’s menu, she would forget the steaks and go with some passion instead. But…

‘Kyle, wait.’ As she’d pulled back, she’d seen him flinch, so she’d quickly offered an explanation. ‘Can we sit down a minute, babe? I just want to talk to you about something that happened today.’

Taking his hand, she’d led him to the table, then took a step to the side and watched as his gaze fell on the test, the box, the word in capital letters. PREGNANT.

He’d turned back to her, his gorgeous face now confused, quizzical. ‘You’re pregnant?’

‘I’m pregnant,’ she’d whispered, cheeks aching from the width of her smile.

That’s when he’d picked her up, swung her around, and then quickly put her down, with, ‘Shit, sorry. Shouldn’t have done that.’ His hand went to her stomach. ‘Are you okay? Is he okay? Or she?’

His concern had made her heart melt. ‘We’re fine. And we’re… happy. I don’t think I’ve ever been so completely, over-the-moon, crazy happy. We did it, babe.’

His arms had gone back around her. ‘We did it.’ He’d kissed her again, and they’d ended up eating burnt steak a little bit later, both of them so deep in their own gloriously happy bubble that at times it had felt like they were lost for words.

‘I love you,’ he’d whispered in bed later, as he’d spooned her, his arm over her, his hand resting on her stomach. ‘I love both of you.’

‘And we love you back.’

She’d gone to sleep with a smile on her face that night andthat moment was etched in her favourite memories, one that she would replay time and time again, just as she was doing now, sitting in the sunshine outside her house.

The sound of a door opening just a few feet away disturbed her thoughts again, and she checked her watch. Three o’clock. Kyle should have been here ten minutes ago, and if they were going to make it in time for the appointment, they’d need to leave here in the next couple of minutes.

‘Your garden is gorgeous.’ A female voice.

Orla squinted against the sun and saw that two young women had come out of Aidan’s front door. She recognised them as regular visitors. Must have had a long lie-in after their overnight stay last night. She’d heard his door closing at about 2a.m., so she assumed that was when they’d arrived.

‘Thank you. This is my favourite spot.’ Now that she could see the women’s faces properly, she registered that they were probably in their mid-twenties, maybe even the same age as her, twenty-eight, but without ten years of shift work and with a more expensive beauty regime. Orla’s skincare regime consisted of baby wipes and whatever moisturiser was on sale at Boots.

‘I’m Kimi. This is Leanne.’ Nice that they were introducing themselves. Clearly, they thought that this wouldn’t be a one-off conversation.

‘Orla. And that… That is my lift drawing up there,’ she said with a relieved smile, as she spotted her husband pulling in, ‘so I’d better get going.’

Kyle’s van had stopped in the driveway and he jumped out, not even registering the strangers on the adjoining path.

‘Sorry, I got held up on a site. Just need to jump in and grab a different T-shirt and?—’

‘Kyle?’

It took Orla a second to register that the word had beenspoken by the woman who’d introduced herself as Kimi, mainly because she was so stunned by Kyle’s reaction. He froze. Actually stopped. Then came the slow motion of his head as he turned towards Kimi, an expression on his face that Orla could only describe as horror.

‘You know each other?’ Even as she said it, Orla realised that the answer was plainly obvious, but despite his reaction, Orla wasn’t in any way concerned. Maybe an old friend. Or an ex-employee.

‘Yes, of course we know each other.’ That came from Kimi again, and Orla wondered if she was imagining a hint of a challenge in there. Definitely an ex-employee. And maybe one who left on bad terms.

Orla could have left it there. Could have got up, gone to the van, climbed in and waited while he changed. She was anxious to get going. If finding out that she was pregnant was the best day of her life, then today, the antenatal appointment, the scan and hearing her baby’s heartbeat was going to be the second. But there was something about the way that Kyle’s face had flushed, or maybe it was because he was well and truly in rabbit/headlight territory, that made Orla take a breath, to ask the obvious question. But before she got to it, Kimi gave her more information than she could possibly have ever needed.

‘He’s our workmate’s boyfriend,’ she said, breezily. ‘Is Demi here with you, Kyle?’