Page 84 of All Yours

‘I’m really sorry, I know your diary is blocked out for the day, but there’s a problem with the server which is an issue. And the American distribution offer has come in but they have questions which only you can answer . . .’

‘When do they need a response?’ Fox asked, glancing out of the window again.

‘By lunch.’

‘And the server?’

‘Been down for an hour. Could really do with your hands on it.’ She laughed suddenly down the line, and he could picture her blush as she stammered, ‘Sorry that wasn’t what it sounded like.’

He sighed. Robyn would have to wait. He had to go to work, but he knew where she’d be later. He’d head to Tutto Mio this afternoon as soon as he’d sorted everything out. The sooner he got started, the sooner he could get back to Robyn.

‘Be right there.’

Chapter Forty-Seven

Robyn

Sitting in Tutto Mio in a warm daze, Robyn knew it was nothing to do with the fact she was wearing a woolly jumper.

She’d felt it since the moment she woke up in the morning, smiling even as she opened her eyes. A hazy kind of happiness, like a hug, as she stretched in bed, her lips pulling into a smile as she went next door to lift a cooing Willow from her cot.

She almost felt hungover from the night before, but it was nothing to do with alcohol. In fact, the bottle of wine still stood unopened on the coffee table. And it wasn’t just the afterglow of good sex. It was the feeling of connection she’d experienced with Fox, their conversations, the way they’d listened to each other, laughed with each other, leaned into each other to say goodbye.

They hadn’t made a plan to see each other again, but it felt like they didn’t have to. She was certain they would, because it felt like they were both enjoying the time they spent together. And she wanted more of it. Despite him being Willow’s dad, and maybe even because of it, she wanted to get to know him more, be with him more, continue the journey that they had begun. She just hoped he did too.

‘You with us, Robyn?’ Wren asked. She jolted and realised that all the women were staring at her expectantly with bemused expressions. What had she missed?

‘Sorry, I was miles away.’ She shook herself back to the present.

‘You looked it!’ Wren said, rubbing her tummy with both hands. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were daydreaming about a man.’

‘Yeah, you looked all gooey,’ Amber added.

‘Smiling to yourself in the corner.’ Rosie laughed.

‘As if.’ Robyn laughed, thinking how easily her face betrayed her. ‘I was just thinking what a good choice Isabella’s made with the foliage.’ She pointed at the table where her samples were on display to divert attention from the blush spreading on her cheeks.

Isabella gathered her choices. Snowberries, trailing ivy with tiny black fruits, red holly berries and drooping catkins. The colour combination was fabulous. Isabella had been thrilled with Robyn’s creativity.

‘I can’t wait! Not long to go now.’ Isabella clapped her hands together and Robyn saw the anticipation on her face. Robyn must have looked like that herself in the run-up to her almost wedding. Happy, excited, completely oblivious to the way her life was just about to implode. She brushed the thought away, not wanting it to taint Isabella’s wedding. She and Etienne seemed so happy, and Robyn knew it was Etienne that had wanted to get married sooner rather than later, so he was highly unlikely to jilt his fiancée at the altar. Again, it seemed that men could, and did, commit to other women. Just not to her.

‘So, anyway, I have news,’ Amber said. ‘Alex has mentioned that he’d like us to think about having a baby.’

‘Oh my goodness!’ Rosie said, glasses slipping down her nose. ‘What did you say?’

Amber widened her sea-blue eyes for a second before her smile burst through.

‘It wasn’t exactly what I said, it was more what I did . . .’

They all waited.

‘I threw my birth control pills away. No time like the present, right?’

The table erupted in noisy whoops and laughter.

‘Our babies would be close in age!’ Wren said, wiping tears from her eyes.

‘It might take a little while.’ Amber shrugged.