---

As the sun climbed higher, the day got warmer. Antonia and Naomi were seated outside a café, underneath a large blue parasol. They made an incongruous pair: Antonia in her designer sunglasses and Naomi with her two long plaits.

Naomi jumped up and threw her arms around Ruth. ‘I am so, so sorry. I was completely thoughtless.’

Ruth hugged her back. ‘It should be me apologising to you. I don’t know what came over me.’

‘Where’s Gail?’ Jenny automatically looked at Antonia and then quickly switched to Naomi.

‘She went towards the shops, looking for you. She's on her way back now.’

‘Maybe she’s calling Geoff to give him the good news.’ Antonia looked at them over the top of her latte. ‘He could be moving my things into the front garden as we speak.’

Jenny brought Ruth up to speed on the events of the night before. She had thought that no one could open their mouth as wide as Naomi had that morning. Turned out, she was wrong.

‘What do you want to drink? Geoff’s paying.’ Antonia waved a credit card.

‘You’d better make the most of that,’ warned Jenny. ‘I’m sure he’ll get that stopped pretty quickly.’

Antonia smiled smugly. ‘Actually, I have an account I’ve been transferring money into for the last couple of years. Just had a hunch I might need it someday.’

Naomi raised her peppermint tea cup. ‘Well, I say good luck to you. I really hope you’ll be happy. I’m jealous you’re going to be living here. I’d love to live by the sea. Any chance your friend could be persuaded to open up her house as a respite centre for single mothers?’

‘Not you, too?’ Ruth’s mouth fell open again.

Naomi sighed. ‘No, I’m going home. I just can’t see how much longer John and I can go on pretending everything is okay. I also have no idea what he’s going to say about this pregnancy.’ She looked glum, then glanced up sharply at Ruth to make sure she wasn’t upsetting her. It was one thing to have wine thrown over you, hot tea was quite another. Her phone rang. ‘Oh, bugger, that’s him now. Excuse me.’ She pushed her chair back and left the table to take the call.

‘Well, the weekend hasn’t quite turned out as I planned,’ said Jenny. ‘I think I need a coffee. Ruth?’

‘Yes, please, a decaf cappuccino. Oh, here’s Gail.’

Jenny waved at the young waiter, who came straight over to take their order. Ruth was apologising to Gail and Antonia for necessitating a wild goose chase all over Brighton.

‘Don’t worry about it. Naomi’s news must have been a shock,’ said Gail.

Antonia nodded. ‘Yes, it’s been quite a weekend of revelations, hasn’t it? I suppose our Undercover Mother has told you her big secret?’

‘She was just telling me.’ Ruth smiled at Jenny. ‘I need to take a look at this blog. Maybe I’ll get a guest appearance one day?’ She shook her hair. ‘I’m pretty sure I’m only a couple of shades away from being ginger.’

‘Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t sleep last night,’ said Gail. ‘So I read your blog. It’s actually pretty good.’

‘Thanks. I appreciate that.’ Much as Jenny was grateful, she just felt sad.

‘I read it, too,’ said Antonia. ‘It was funny. Even the bits which took the piss out of me. You made me sound such a snob, darling.’ She nudged Jenny.

‘Thanks. You’ve all been so understanding. Honestly. But it doesn’t really matter now. It’s over.’

‘What do you mean?’ Antonia lifted her sunglasses. ‘I know that we were a bit cross last night, but we’ve read it now. It’s fine.’

Jenny had a mysterious lump in her throat. ‘It’s not just that. I can’t get anyone to take it on. My editor hasn’t wanted it from the beginning. I hoped I could change her mind, but I can’t.’

The waiter arrived with their drinks and passed them out. Gail took her black coffee from the tray and then turned to Jenny.

‘Why do you need someone else’s approval? Why can’t you carry on doing it yourself?’

‘Oh, I know I can keep it up as a hobby. I meant I can’t do it as a job. A paid job.’

‘Ridiculous. Of course you can.’ Gail sat up straight, reached into her handbag and pulled out her mobile.

Jenny sighed. ‘No, that’s what I’m saying. I’ve tried. My boss doesn’t want it.’ She didn’t tell them how she had even tried her ex-boyfriend in her desperation.

Gail was tapping and swiping her mobile screen. Then she turned it towards Jenny. ‘Look. Read this. Monetising your blog. Everyone is at it.’

Jenny took the phone and scanned the page. There were pages and pages of advice about how to make money from websites and blogs. Advertising. Affiliate programs. But she knew all this.

She handed Gail’s phone back. ‘I know about those things, but it takes an awful lot of time to build that up. And I doubt I could make it cover my entire salary.’

‘Maybe not,’ said Gail. ‘But what’s to stop you picking up some freelance work at the same time? Much more flexible than a full-time job. Plus…’ She was tapping her screen again. She found what she was looking for and gave the mobile back to Jenny.

It was a comment on one of Jenny’s posts, added last night:

The comment already had about 200 likes and replies agreeing with the idea:

and

and

A book? Was there a journalist anywhere who didn’t secretly dream of publishing a book? Could she do it? Going freelance was a risk, but what was the alternative? Jenny felt a flutter in her stomach. The same flutter she had got on the day she’d published her first ‘Girl About Town’ column.

Gail sat back in her seat confidently. ‘Obviously, we will start charging a fee for our words of wisdom.’

‘And I will not be happy if I start getting papped. Unless I look gorgeous, obviously.’ Antonia flicked her shades back into place.

Before Jenny could answer, a wonderstruck Naomi rejoined them, sat down beside Antonia and started mechanically stirring her peppermint tea. The others watched her, waiting for her to speak. When she started to sip her drink, uncharacteristically quiet, Antonia prompted, ‘Everything okay?’

Naomi looked up, a little dazed. ‘It seems we might be going away.’

Jenny nearly spat her coffee across the table. ‘What?’

Naomi’s eyes shone. ‘We might be moving to Canada. Or not. Or somewhere else. Like here.’

Ruth frowned. ‘You’re not making sense. What do you mean?’

Naomi put her tea cup down and looked at them properly. She was bubbling with excitement. ‘It’s all John's idea. He started off asking me if we’d had a good time, then told me that Daisy was fine, which I already knew because I’ve been texting him about every hour to check on her.’

‘Yes, yes. Please get to the point before you force me to shake it out of you,’ said Jenny.

Naomi giggled like a young girl. She flicked her plaits from her shoulders. ‘Well, he was silent for a few seconds and then kind of launched into it. He knows I’m not happy, but he loves me and Daisy and can’t live with the thought that we might leave.’ She paused for breath. ‘So, he’s been thinking about what’s changed and he spoke to your David’ — she nodded at Ruth — ‘at Antonia’s house yesterday, and he’s realised that he lost himself a bit. He’s been trying so hard to be a good dad and provide for both of us that he’s ended up being someone completely different. He also admitted that he knew dealing with his mother had not been easy and that I must be feeling lonely. He said he thinks if we go away for a while and spend some time just the four of us, we might be able to get back to the way we were – and make it work this time. He has an uncle in Canada with his own gardening business and—’

‘Back up, back up – the four of you?’ asked Ruth.

Naomi smile seemed to get even wider. ‘He found the pregnancy test box in the recycling bin and put two and two together with the fact that I've been so emotional lately. It was that, coupled with not having me around for the weekend, that made him realise he needed to do something.’

‘So you’re having this baby?’ asked Antonia.

‘We’re having this baby,’ nodded Naomi.

‘And you’re moving to Canada?’

‘He has lots of ideas. Backpacking around Asia when you’re six months pregnant might be a little impractical, so we’ve agreed that just a change of scene would do us for now and then, who knows? One day we might buy a camper van and take both kids on a tour around Europe.’

‘I’m so pleased for you.’ Ruth put her hand over Naomi’s. ‘And I’m so glad you’re happy about the baby.’

Naomi covered Ruth’s hand with her free one. ‘I am. It’ll happen for you, too, Ruth, I know it will.’ She looked around at the others. ‘I’ll miss you all, though.’

Jenny glanced at her watch. ‘Speaking of which, we’d better get a move on or we’ll miss our taxi.’

---

Jenny stood with Naomi and Gail at the bay window. What a weekend. She still didn’t know if she had done the right thing by bringing them all here.

‘I feel quite sad.’ Naomi had tears in her eyes.

Jenny put an arm around her. ‘It’s the hormones. You’ll be all right when you get to twelve weeks.’ But hormones didn’t explain why she felt the same way. Was this an ending? Or a beginning?

The taxi came into sight around the corner. Naomi played with her bracelets. ‘Do you think we’ll all stay in touch? You know – with Antonia down here, me moving somewhere, you getting stuck into promoting your blog and maybe writing a book. And then there’s the, the—’ she glanced at Gail ‘—other situation…?’

Gail shrugged. ‘Who knows? We will if we want to.’

‘I’d like to stay in touch.’ Ruth joined them, carrying her overnight bag. ‘I’ll need lots of tips if David and I do manage to have another baby.’ Jenny reached over and squeezed her arm conspiratorially. If she had it in her power to do anything right now, it would be to guarantee the safety of that foetus. Keep growing, baby. Keep growing.

Antonia appeared in the doorway. ‘Your ride is here. Are you all ready to go?’

‘Naomi wants us to make a pact to be together for ever.’ Jenny was pretty sure Antonia would be moving on sharpish. Brighton must be full of Antonias, just waiting to meet each other for afternoon tea.

‘Well, I’d like to,’ said Antonia. ‘It’s been good to go through this with you all. The babies, I mean.’ She focused on Gail. ‘You do realise that our children are half-siblings? If neither of us have any more children, they might be the only family each other has one day.’

Jenny hadn’t expected that response. Judging by her face, neither had Gail. But Gail nodded. ‘I’d like to stay in touch, too.’

‘Give it a while and maybe we can start going to events for single mums together?’ Antonia winked and smiled. ‘Too soon for jokes?’

Gail’s eyebrows shot up and then she spluttered a laugh. ‘Why not? This year has been crazy enough that that might actually happen.’

Jenny nudged Naomi. ‘Looks like we will.’

---

New baby. New friends. New job. Sometimes, when people tell you that your life is about to change, they are absolutely right.