Yes. She would do it for him because she could.
But, perhaps even more importantly, because she knew that nobody else would.
9
MR & MRS – DISCOVER THINGS ABOUT YOUR PARTNER YOU DIDN’T KNOW.
It had been quite an eye-opener for Xavier, seeing Harriet for the first time in five years. The pregnancy had knocked him off his game to begin with, but once they’d started talking, he’d soon regained his equilibrium. Meeting her again had been something he’d been dreading, but now it had happened he realised it hadn’t affected him in the way he’d expected.
In fact, he’d been surprised, after talking to Soli about it all and reflecting on it later that evening, by the startling realisation that he wasn’t angry with Harriet any more, despite the pregnancy she’d sworn she’d never want. Thinking about what he’d had with her just conjured a sense of bittersweet nostalgia now, but that was all it was. It seemed he’d finally moved on from the hurt and bitterness he’d felt about her rejecting him.
It was actually quite liberating. He’d been walking around with this sense of loss and inadequacy for so long, it was a huge relief to finally feel it lifting.
He had a strong suspicion that Soli’s steadfast support and compassion had had a hand in breaking the grief he’d been living with too. Her tackling the subject head-on had made him realise how he’d bottled his feelings up, and how unhealthy that had been. He’d not talked to anyone about what had happened to him before, worried it would make him seem weak, and had cut everyone who knew about it out of his life so that he hadn’t had to face it. But he knew now he couldn’t hide for ever. It was time to get past his hang-ups.
He had an inkling that Soli wouldn’t let him carry on the way he’d been going anyway.
She was a real force of nature.
They’d spent the next day in the house together, with her reading a book in the garden and him moving between his home office and joining her on the terrace to eat, where they’d chatted about inconsequential things. He’d appreciated her allowing him some personal space and leaving the subject of Harriet alone, but also making it clear she was happy to talk if he wanted to.
It seemed he’d made a good move in choosing her to be his stand-in wife. He found he was actually enjoying her company now and could imagine them getting on fine for the next few months. Until it was time to call a halt to it all.
Strangely, the thought of that brought with it a heavy, tense feeling, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. There was no point in dwelling on what would happen when their arrangement came to an end. It was almost a year away yet.
* * *
Walking into the kitchen on the morning of his birthday to grab a quick cup of coffee, he stopped in amazement as he saw that the table was set for two and there was a plate loaded with Scotch pancakes covered in maple syrup and two large mugs of coffee sitting on it. Soli was standing at the stove, attending to what looked like poached eggs.
‘Happy birthday!’ she said brightly when she noticed him standing there, open-mouthed. ‘I thought I’d make you breakfast. You like eggs, right?’
‘Er… yes. I love them.’
‘Great. Take a seat and dig in to the pancakes. I made them fresh. There’s more coffee if you need a refill after that one too.’
‘You didn’t have to do this—’ he began to protest, but she waved his words away.
‘Of course I did! It’s your birthday. Everyone should get special treatment on their birthday.’
Never having had ‘special treatment’ like this before, Xavier went to object, but snapped his mouth shut at the last second, feeling it would be rude and unkind to contradict her. Just because no one else had done it for him, it didn’t mean he couldn’t accept it from her. Tingly heat rushed across his skin as he made the conscious decision to accept her indulging him today. It would actually be pretty nice to celebrate his birthday. He’d not done it in a while.
‘Well, I appreciate the thought,’ he said, sitting down at the table. ‘I’ll wait for you before I eat though.’
‘Okay,’ she said, shooting him a warm smile.
A minute later, she came to join him, laying down plates of buttered wholemeal toast with two poached eggs balanced on top.
‘So! What are you going to do with your day?’ she asked, sitting down opposite him and picking up her cutlery.
He frowned at her. ‘Go to work.’
She looked aghast. ‘Really? Can’t you take the day off for once?’
‘I wasn’t planning to. There’s a lot going on at the minute.’
‘But you have a large staff working for you.’
‘Yes.’
