Chapter 14
After several cancellations, Bella and Chris were finally meeting for their drink, so after work, she travelled to the centre of town to the elegant bar he’d chosen.
When she arrived, he was already seated at a table, looking through a stack of documents.
‘Hello, stranger!’ she announced herself.
‘Bella!’ He jumped up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Are you drinking anything?’ he asked as the waiter hovered.
‘One exciting cranberry juice with soda, please.’ Then she settled down into the chair opposite.
‘So, no drinking… how’s that working out for you?’ he asked.
‘It’s not too bad,’ she told him.
‘You know, I’m still so surprised you’re pregnant. I just can’t picture you with a baby.’
She smiled at this, ‘That makes two of us then. But here’s hoping I get my head around it.’
‘You look really well,’ he added.
‘Thanks, you too.’ And this was true. Broad shoulders under that smart suit jacket and he was well-groomed with his close-cut dark hair and neat eyebrows. She liked the lively energy on his handsome face. But never mind – he was a colleague and she was a pregnant, married lady.
‘So how’s work going?’ he asked.
‘Things have recently got much better,’ she told him. ‘Merris has told me on the quiet he’s setting up a merger deal and he’s stepping back to the board. About bloody time.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘Yup. It can be fun this job, can’t it? We do get stuff done, even at crusty old companies like Merris.’
‘It’s the best,’ he agreed.
‘I’m not planning to give it up, you know, for the baby,’ she added.
‘I think you’ve made that pretty clear. But you might find you can’t devote quite so much time to it. I mean, we work a lot of hours every week.’
‘Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,’ she admitted. ‘I’m going to need great childcare obviously and I’ll have to be even better in the hours that I’m working. I think Susan should up my rate, so people can’t afford me to be around for ten hours a day.’ There was no way Bella was taking a pay cut or going part-time post-birth. She wanted to put that message out loud and clear.
‘Interesting.’
‘Come on, Chris, don’t say you don’t think I deserve to be a senior partner by the time the Merris job is over?’
‘I think you do. You’re doing it brilliantly, but…’ he trailed off.
‘But? Susan doesn’t agree?’
Chris shrugged. ‘Currently, she’s feeling angry and disappointed— not at you,’ he added quickly, ‘just at the situation. At having to factor in your maternity leave and the way you might want to work afterwards.’
‘But I’ve told her—’ Bella began.
‘I know, but people do change once they have children. They tend to need more of a work-life balance and, just give her time to come round, Bella. I’m sure you can make this all work brilliantly.’
‘Will you please report back that I’m just as committed to the job as ever?’
‘Will do,’ Chris told her. Then he gestured the waiter over and suggested, ‘Now maybe we should just enjoy another round of drinks, stop talking shop and have a nice, sociable get together.’
‘OK, OK,’ she agreed, ‘and sorry to dump on you. It’s Susan I need to talk to about all this… better get my ducks in a row. Right,’ she sank back in her seat and tried to move work from the forefront of her mind.
‘So, I hope you’ve been dating,’ she began, ‘and I want to hear all about how that’s going.’
Chris groaned and put his hand over his face. ‘Oh no! Don’t make me talk about dating. Somehow, I haven’t managed to meet anyone else like you yet.’
‘Oh, very flattering,’ she tried to laugh this off. ‘Come on, there are so many brilliant people out there. You just have to keep looking. Promise?’
‘OK, I promise… and if you come across one, you let me know.’
The next social event in Bella’s diary was a cosy Saturday lunch with Tania. She arrived feeling stressed because the house move was rushing up on her, she’d spent too much time in hospital waiting rooms the day before and, worse, Don was away for the whole weekend with work.
But in the comfortable Italian restaurant, a very cheerful Tania was there to soothe her. First of all, she poured Bella a tiny glass of red wine, insisting, ‘It’s full of iron, you know.’
‘You’re in a very good mood – what’s been happening?’ Bella wanted to know.
Tania was celebrating a successful week. She’d finally landed the mega account that she’d been hoping to snag for months and her boyfriend, Greg, had booked a trip to Venice to celebrate.
‘Venice! It’s so exciting! Maybe this will be it, the big proposal!’ she said, not able to stop herself from grinning. ‘Can you imagine? In Venice? That would be soooo romantic! So perfect!’
‘Oh God, don’t you dare come back all depressed if it doesn’t happen,’ Bella warned. ‘If you’re so keen to get married, why don’t you ask him yourself?’ she added.
‘No, I can’t.’ Tania protested, ‘It’s the one last bastion that I, as an independent woman fully in charge of my own destiny, can’t overcome… storm… whatever it is you’re supposed to do with bastions.’ They burst into laughter together.
‘So, how does it feel now, to have this big tummy, this big baby thing sitting in front of you like that?’ Tania wondered, as they began to tuck into their food. ‘And by the way, you still look unbelievably slim, you total cow. You’ve got glowing skin, lovely big boobs, a glamorous bump and everything else is just the same. Your bum still looks pert, for God’s sake. It’s disgusting, it should not be allowed. You better have dessert or I’m not paying.’
Bella snorted with laughter again.
‘I feel tired and heavy and fat and ready to burst into tears at all kinds of totally minor things,’ she confessed. ‘My hair is all weird and wiry and I’m going to have to start wearing flat shoes because I can feel my spine starting to buckle with all this forward pull—’ she cupped her hands round her bulge.
‘Are you getting excited about the baby?’ Tania asked.
‘I don’t feel I’ve really had the chance,’ Bella confessed. ‘At the moment, it just feels like a hassle – work, maternity leave, buying the house, the hanging around the hospital,’ was Bella’s truthful answer.
‘Bella, maybe you need to let other people deal with at least some of the problems for a change? Ask for some back up from your work and what about Don?’ Tania asked, obviously meaning why can’t he help more?
‘He’s been away a lot. I think he wants to do all the travelling for work that he can, while he still has the chance—’ For a moment she paused before adding, ‘Everything is good between us, honestly, but we do feel a bit out of touch right now.’
‘And what is sex with a bump like?’ Tania asked, twirling a forkful of pasta.
‘Let’s just say there’s less sex.’
‘Ah.’ Tania looked across at Bella. ‘Look, you know we were talking about you coming to see my mum? I’m going there tomorrow, so why don’t you come with me?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Yeah. We’ll drive down first thing and we’ll have fresh air, lovely food and pampering. Mum is desperate to see you now that you’re pregnant. She’s hoping it’s contagious! Plus, she knows about hospitals and midwives and stuff, she’ll give you lots of info.’
Bella didn’t need much persuading to agree. It would be lovely to let someone take care of her for a day.
By 9p.m. that night, Don still hadn’t called her from his work trip to a Scottish island. She’d tried his mobile several times but could only reach his voicemail. Soon afterwards, she went to bed, but then half an hour later was woken by him calling from a noisy bar.
‘I’m asleep,’ she told him grumpily.
‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘It’s only 10p.m.’
‘Yeah, well— I’m really tired.’
‘Sorry, Bella. You sounded so worked up in your messages and I just wanted to say please don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine.’
Oh yes, phoning full of whisky and beer from some snug bar on the isle of whatever, everything probably did look rosy.
‘Easy for you to say!’ Bella snapped. ‘You aren’t carrying around a great big bump and wondering how this is all going to work out. We haven’t moved yet. We don’t even have names!’
‘Look, go to sleep, it won’t seem so bad in the morning. Good night, lovely girl,’ he said in a voice that sounded warm, tipsy and soothing.
But that just annoyed her even more.
‘Bye,’ she said and slammed the receiver down.