‘He turned two last week. Did I tell you I’m thinking of having another?’ Catherine said.
‘Really? Isn’t it a bit soon?’
‘Well, all the other mums who started out with me seem to be going onto their second now. I need to stay ahead of the curve.’
‘How would Paddy react to that, do you think?’
Catherine cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. ‘I haven’t decided yet. He might be madly jealous – there’d be a lot of mileage in that. Or he could fall totally in love with the baby, which would be adorable.’ She shrugged. ‘I’ll see what the other babies are doing, I guess.’
‘Maybe it’s a good thing you’re not ahead of the curve on this one.’
‘I wish I could have been more help,’ Catherine said apologetically, as they finished their coffee, ‘but I know all I want to know about seducing men, and that’s bugger-all.’
‘It’s okay,’ Claire said. ‘It’s great just to be able to talk it out with someone.’
‘Oh, I know!’ Catherine perked up. ‘Why don’t you ask that girl you work with? She’s a bit of a slapper, isn’t she?’
‘Yvonne? She’s not a slapper. She’s just?—’
‘A nice girl who likes sex, right?’
‘Yes.’
‘She’s the perfect person to help you, then. She’s exactly who you’re pretending to be.’
8
Claire waited for the afternoon lull before she broached the subject with Yvonne. When there was just a lone customer, desultorily thumbing through a selection of health and fitness books, she decided it was time.
‘Yvonne, there’s something I want to ask you – a favour, really.’
‘Sure!’ Yvonne answered. ‘What is it?’
Claire was touched that Yvonne was so ready to help even before she’d asked what she was getting into. ‘I have this, um… date and?—’
‘Oooh!’ Yvonne squealed, beaming from ear to ear. ‘A date? Really?’
‘Yes—’
‘Tell me everything. Who is he? Where did you meet him? Is he seriously hot?’
‘Well, that’s just it. I haven’t met him exactly – not yet.’
‘Oh.’ Yvonne frowned in confusion.
‘I met him on the internet.’
‘You didn’t tell me you were internet dating!’ she said, her smile returning.
‘I’m not really. I just… I joined a site one night a while back when I was fed up – for a laugh, you know? I didn’t think anything would come of it. Anyway, I had to write a profile to be able to look around. But I wasn’t taking it seriously, so I wasn’t exactly honest in what I wrote.’
‘Are you “Thai”?’ Yvonne asked knowingly.
‘What? No! Of course not.’
‘Well, I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t pull off, then. Go on.’
‘Well, I got a message from this guy on the site, and he seemed really nice, and… well, I was genuinely interested. We’ve been emailing and stuff. But now I’m going to meet him for the first time in real life.’
