“The girls took me out for dinner at Dishoom in King’s Cross.” Her tone softens as she rifles through the hamper.
“Dishoom? But you don’t like curry anymore.”
“Don’t!” Kelly rolls her eyes as she lifts one of the creams out. “My cravings for Indian food have gone through the roof this trimester. Do you remember when we were kids and dad used to feed us his curries?”
“And mum used to have a go at him for stinking us out the house and saying it would give us explosive diarrhea.”
Both of us laugh at one of the few fond memories I have of us round the dining room table as children, and I lean back into the couch.
“Wait, where are you? Aren’t you meant to be in the office?” Kelly stops herself from laughing. She leans into the camera, no doubt trying to make out what’s behind me.
“I’m at Alexander’s,” I say reluctantly. I’m unable to hide that I’m sitting on his enormous L-shaped couch. His black baby grand piano lurks in the far corner and the sound of hummingbirds comes in from outside through the open glass doors.
“Shut up! No way you two are back together.” Her mouth falls open.
As if on cue, Alexander walks into the room, saving me from answering Kelly’s question. He jumps over the back of the couch to sit next to me. His skin is smooth like velvet as his arm brushes up against mine. Kelly gets an eyeful of Alexander in nothing but his tight black Versace briefs.
“Happy belated birthday, my sister from another mister.” Alexander slides his arm around me, leaning in to see Kelly on my phone screen. “How’s the bump coming along?”
“Oh, it’s coming.” Kelly tilts her phone down to reveal a prominent bump that shows up even through her oversized jumper, which she seems to be wearing as a dress.
“When are you due?” Alexander’s smile widens on his face.
“Beginning of February. But it feels like this little terror wants to get out early, the way it keeps kicking.” Her hand pats her belly.
“Well, I can’t wait to meet that little terror of yours when it comes out. Do you know what you’re having yet?”
Kelly pauses, as if sizing him up. I’m still the only one who knows other than her and Daniel. The pair opted to keep it a secret until the baby shower next month.
“Can I trust you to keep a secret?” she asks.
Alexander nods and I laugh.
He may not be good at a lot of things, but he knows how to keep a secret.
“I’m having a boy.”
“Congratulations!” Alexander’s dimple deepens as his smile widens. “I should leave you both to catch up.”
Alexander gets up and makes his way to the kitchen.
“So, he’s the reason you missed my birthday yesterday then.” Her eyes are wide, expectant that I will give her all the gossip once Alexander’s out of shot.
I nod and look out toward the pool. I dare not tell her about Andrew. Her hormones are all over the place at the moment, and I don’t know how she’ll react to finding out that Andrew’s in a coma.
“There’s something you’re not telling me. What else are you keeping from me?”
I snap my head back to her, and curse under my breath.
Damn Kelly and her ability to pick up on when I’m avoiding things.
“Nothing,” I say and exhale. I remove any emotion from my voice, enough to convince her that I’m being, if not truthful, then at least truth-adjacent.
“Right. Well, I want to hear all the details of how you and Alexander got back together.”
“I’ve got to head to work, but I’ll call you on the weekend.” I don’t want to continue this conversation and set off a domino of lies that I’ll have to recall later.
“Come on, you can be late for work. Think of it as making up for the fact you completely missed my birthday,” she pleads as she sits down.
