‘You’re welcome to come,’ said Noelle, with a smile for Adele, but she shot a none too happy glance in my direction as they walked towards the door.
‘Was this a good idea?’ Lucy asked me, as we watched them walk to Noelle’s car. ‘What if she’s not?’
‘Then we’ll find out what else is going on with her and deal with that. And we can, at least, tick one thing off the list.’
‘You’ve got a list about the things that might be making Adele behave like this?’
‘Of course not,’ I said.
That wasn’t strictly true. Shortly before Lucy and Noelle arrived, I had been searching the internet for information about the things that made women seem crazy, and scribbling a few notes.
Not that I thought Adele was crazy. But it always helps to have as much information as you can when dealing with any unusual situation.
‘Why don’t I believe you?’ Lucy asked, giving me a quizzical look.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you? Ooh! While they’re gone, why don’t we have a quick glass of wine? We won’t be able to have one if it turns out Adele is pregnant.’
‘Do you really think she could be?’
‘She and Marcus do have sex, don’t they? So yes, of course she could be.’
‘Unless they’re using contraception.’
‘Surely she would’ve said if they were. But even then, people still get pregnant. It’s not one hundred per cent reliable, remember.’
‘I know,’ Lucy said, ‘but I really hope it is. As much as I’d love to start a family, now is definitely not the right time. We’re both far too busy for that. But Sam and I haven’t been able to keep our hands off one another since we met up again in February.’
I snorted a laugh and then tutted. ‘Didn’t your mum ever tell you, Lucy? It’s not hands you need to worry about. It’s what men keep in their trousers, or more precisely, don’t keep in their trousers, that makes babies.’
‘Really?’ Lucy laughed too. ‘Sam keeps his mobile phone, his wallet, his bike keys, house keys, and showroom keys, and sometimes a hanky or a tissue in his trousers. Which one of those makes babies?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, giggling like a five-year-old. ‘Because us single girls don’t have sex. Obviously.’
‘Oh shut up and get the wine,’ Lucy laughed. ‘All I can think about now is getting home, taking off Sam’s trousers, and making mad, passionate love to him all night.’
‘And all I can think about is how fast a certain person’s nose might take to heal.’
