Sam shrugged. ‘I just like the samovar. We don’t get to use it often enough. I kind of feel bad for it. But we can remove it, if you like.’
Sive giggled as she pulled him down onto the sofa beside her. ‘No, it can stay. It adds a touch of class. Now, where were we…’
21
‘Are you hungry?’Sam asked later that night when they emerged, blinking into what felt to Sive like a whole new world.
Sive considered it and discovered she was. ‘Starving!’
‘Pizza?’ He tilted his chin at the little Italian on the corner where the company often ate after rehearsals.
She nodded. ‘Perfect.’
They were subdued as they ordered and ate, both lost in their own thoughts. Sam seemed as stunned by what had happened between them as Sive was, but it was clear they were both on the same wavelength and had no regrets as they exchanged smug, knowing smiles while they ate in silence.
‘So who else knows you’re pregnant?’ Sam asked eventually.
‘Just Mimi, Aoife, and Ben. Oh, and Ben’s parents.’
‘Not even Jonathan and Rocco?’
She shook her head. ‘I didn’t want to risk you hearing it from someone else. I wanted to tell you myself. But I had to tell Ben first.’
Sam nodded. ‘That’s why you wanted to see him the other night. The project you’ve been working on together …’
‘Is Bean, yes. Anyway, now Ben knows, I can tell everyone.’
‘What about at the theatre?’
‘There too. I was going to wait, but tech week starts next week and I don’t want everyone thinking I’m a flake if I don’t have my usual vim and vigour.’
‘I’m sure they wouldn’t think that.’
‘Andrea would. She’s already accused me of slacking off.’
Sam rolled his eyes. ‘I wouldn’t pay much attention to what she says.’
Sive finished her pizza and pushed her plate away with a satisfied sigh. She yawned and laid her head on the table momentarily, her eyes drifting closed.
‘Tired?’
‘Exhausted.’ She lifted her head.
‘Sorry.’ Sam wiped his hands with a napkin and gestured to the waitress for the bill.
‘Don’t be. It’s a good kind of tired.’ Her limbs were like liquid. She felt drowsy and sated in every possible way. ‘But my bed is definitely calling.’
She was in a daze as they walked through the crowded streets of Temple Bar, the night punctuated by blasts of music from pubs and the wail of sirens. They held hands all the way to the tram stop, and on the journey, Sive closed her eyes and laid her head on Sam’s shoulder. They walked to Sive’s house together and said goodbye at her gate with a last, lingering kiss.
Sive floated into the house on air. She found Aoife in the living room.
‘So? You told Sam?’ Aoife pointed the remote at the TV, muting it. ‘Mimi said you stayed back at the theatre with him.’
‘Yeah.’
‘And? It went okay?’
Sive nodded happily. ‘We’re officially dating!’
