“Uh, yeah, sure.”
“And Mr Sanderson!” Edgar said, rounding on Scott with delight. “I haven’t seen you since you finished school, mate!”
As scared as Toby was about what he might have done to Tabby, it was still pretty hilarious seeing thirty-something Scott round his shoulders and duck his head like a teenager. “Uh, hi, Mr DaSilva. H-h-how are you?”
“Excellent,” Edgar said warmly. “And what about you? Are you still playing the drums? You’re obviously still sweet on Sammy…”
“Dad,” Sam groaned. “Stop!”
“Stop what?” Edgar said, nonplussed. “He always liked you! We used to talk about it, didn’t we, Scott? Back me up!”
Scott looked like he’d rather back up into an early grave, and Toby couldn’t help laughing.
“Traitor,” Scott muttered as he sat down beside him. “You wait, Tennant. It’ll be your turn soon.”
They all ate at the scratched dining table, Sam and Scott holding hands, Nicole practically in Noah’s lap. He and Edgar were the odd men out, and there was a conspicuously empty chair where Tabby should have been, cracking jokes and laughing her gorgeous laugh.
“I wish we could call her,” Sam said, as though reading his mind. “Any updates?”
Everyone checked their phones. There was no news.
“She’ll be back,” Edgar said for the umpteenth time, pouring everyone fresh coffee. It was bizarre how much more relaxed everyone was with him around; Noah smiling and Scott eating mountains of food.
“Me and this bastard have been living on Schnitz,” Scott said, tilting his head at Noah. “Subway for lunch and crumbed battery hens for dinner.”
“Bachelor life sucks, huh?” Sam teased. “Maybe you should have thought of that before you kept secrets from me, Galahad?”
With a look that said he’d punish her for that, but in a way they’d both enjoy, Scott swallowed his mouthful of burrito. “Either way, it’s nice to have a home-cooked meal. Noah isn’t one for regular washing, either.”
“No point,” Noah grunted. “Wasn’t sleeping next to you, was I?”
“Oh, Noah never wants to shower when he’s sad,” Nicole said, brushing a hand over Noah’s forehead. “It makes him feel all vulnerable.”
“It makes him smell like a dumpster full of cigarette ash,” Scott said, and everyone laughed. Everyone except Toby, which Scott noticed. He pushed his empty plate away and stood from the table. “Why don’t we go for a walk, Toby?”
He wanted to refuse, especially since everyone got very quiet, very quickly, but had no idea how to manage it without looking like an idiot. “Okay.”
He and Scott went out to the garden and stood among the wood carvings and exotic plants left behind by Edgar. Toby thought back to the family barbecue he’d once attended here when he’d first learned Noah and Edgar were in contact. Tabby had been wearing a snapback, and they’d finished the night on the roof together, talking about what constellations looked the most like penises…
“So,” Scott said. “Someone told you?”
Toby’s insides heaved. “Yes. No. Not really. Sam asked if we’d been using condoms. Me and Tabby. What… what’s happening?”
Scott’s panicked expression told him everything he needed to know.
“She can’t be! She isn’t…?”
“She is,” Scott said quietly. “She’s pregnant.”
Toby felt like he was back on the plane, the wheels lifting off the earth and into the rattling void of space. If Tabby was pregnant, if she was going to have his baby, he was going to be a dad. He looked down as though his own body might have changed. He was twenty-six, and he’d never seriously thought about fatherhood. He’d imagined having kids with Tabby one day. But ‘eightish months from now’ wasn’t ‘one day.’ It was really fucking soon.
“Jesus,” he whispered. “Jesus.”
“I’m sorry you found out like this,” Scott said. “I didn’t tell you at your house because I didn’t want to be the one to give the news, but if you know a little, I’d rather you knew everything.”
“Everything?” Toby’s mouth was dry, his stomach wrestling with his breakfast burrito like an alligator. “What else’s happened?”
“Nicole found a test Tabby had taken in the bathroom the night she left your house,” Scott said heavily. “Nicole was distraught because she’d just lost her baby, and, of course, she had no idea Tabby was even seeing anyone. It got ugly on all accounts, and Tabby left not long afterwards. But Nicole’s beside herself with guilt now she’s had time to work through her feelings.”
