Oh god. Was it too late? Was he in too deep already? She couldn’t bear how hurt he looked.
‘You really don’t want to go out with me?’
‘I do, but—’ She took a deep breath. ‘The thing is, there’s something you don’t know about me.’
‘Is this where you tell me you’re a vampire?’
Sive laughed nervously. ‘Would that be a dealbreaker?’
‘Honestly, probably not. I could live with it … or be undead with it.’ He shrugged. ‘Whatever. If Bella Swan can do it … And as for splitting up, I can’t see that happening. But even if we did, we’d still be friends, right? Nothing has to change that.’
Sive picked at her sleeve. ‘It depends on why we’re splitting up, I suppose.’
‘Well, what did you have in mind?’ He gave her a cheeky smile. ‘Were you thinking you might cheat on me?’
‘No! Of course not. I’d never do that.’
‘Well, neither would I. So what else? Maybe I’d swindle you out of all your money?’
Sive laughed. ‘Hardly. I’m not worth any swindler’s time.’
‘Okay, so we’ve ruled out the big ones. Why else do people split up?’ He leaned his arms on his knees, running a thumb over his mouth as he thought.
‘They fall out of love.’
Sam shook his head. ‘Not gonna happen. Not for me anyway.’
Sive gasped as she realised what he’d just said.
‘Not for me either,’ she said, and a smile broke across Sam’s face. ‘But what if … what if one of us found out that the other was pregnant?’
Sam’s eyes widened in shock, his smile vanishing.
‘With someone else’s baby,’ Sive added hastily.
‘Okay, I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing we’re talking about you? Because I can pretty much guarantee you I’m never going to end up having another man’s baby.’
Sive gave a shaky laugh, relieved he was making light of it at least.
‘But you said you’d never cheat. So you must have got pregnant before we got together … in this hypothetical scenario?’
Sive swallowed hard and nodded. ‘It’d be my ex’s – Ben’s.’
He shot upright, eyes wide. ‘Wow! That’s not what I was expecting.’
‘What were you expecting?’
‘I don’t know. It’s not you, it’s me. We want different things. I see you as more of a friend.’ He trotted out all the usual cliches.
Sive smiled. ‘Well, it’s definitely me, and we probably do want different things … so two out of three.’
‘Well, first of all, congratulations!’
‘Thanks.’
‘I mean … you’re happy about it? If it’s okay to ask that?’
‘It’s fine. And yeah, I am. I mean, it was a shock. But I’m excited about it.’
