Chapter 24
Mid-April
Josie padded into her living room in her cozy pajamas and robe, opening the blinds to reveal cherry blossoms blowing off the trees. No stirring yet in the tiny second bedroom — they were still asleep. She fired up her laptop to continue her journal entry from yesterday.
Peter’s nothing like Rob, and I think that’s a good thing.
I can start to forget my old life when I’m with Peter.
He’s so much more gregarious and extroverted, so much more talkative.
He’s kind of fearless. Rob is gentle, stoic, and always very kind and thoughtful with his comments, whereas Peter has virtually no filter.
He’s very kind, too, but it takes a while to see it, as he doesn’t pull any punches.
When I married Rob, I thought he couldn’t be more perfect for me.
It was true, and remains true. But this time away from my life and my marriage, and spending time with Peter, has shown me there are many ways people can be right for each other.
Just because you can be happy with a quiet, gentle man doesn’t mean you can’t also be happy with an outgoing, charismatic joker.
In a different life.
Or maybe even both in the same life.
Quiet voices drifted from the spare bedroom, prompting Josie to put her thoughts on hold. Stopping first in the kitchen to switch on the kettle, she knocked on the door. “Are you two up?” she called. “Anybody for tea?”
She heard footsteps and David opened the door. Behind him, Anna was sitting up in bed, wearing a lilac silk camisole that contrasted with her vivid red hair. Josie felt dowdy in her faded robe.
“I could murder a cuppa Rosie, thanks Bosie. Hey, that rhymes.” David laughed. “Babe, do you want tea?”
“You Brits and your tea. Got any decaf coffee?” Anna replied with a winning smile. Wow. She was so gorgeous Josie could almost jump into bed with her.
“Sure, somewhere,” Josie said. “One tea, one decaf, got it.”
“Thanks,” Anna said.
“No problem. Happy fortieth, bro. How are you feeling after last night?” Josie added, as David followed her into the kitchen.
“Bit delicate. Feeling . . . you know. Old.” He glanced around. “Your new fella joining us again?”
“No, his band has an event today. Plus it’s too soon to subject him to the entire family. Last night’s double date with you two was quite enough. We’ve only been out a few times, it’s early days.”
“Fair enough. I like him, he’s all right. For a Yank. At least he can play guitar, which makes up for it.”
“That’s how I see it,” Josie replied, hunting for decaf and her French press. She missed the fancy coffee machine she and Rob had. Those delicious lattes.
“What’s up?” asked David.
“Nothing. Hangover.” She turned back to him. “I’m very happy you’re both here with me, of course.” She bared her teeth. “See?”
“Evidently. And you need to brush your teeth. Man, it’s nearly ten. What time are the others coming over?”
“Well, Laura and Adam will be enjoying their hotel breakfast, which of course Mum will spurn and then be hangry until lunch. I guess . . . eleven? Official gift ceremony at 11.30, lunch at noon.” Josie looked down at her robe. “I’ll need to be dressed by then. Mother won’t approve.”
“And showered. You stink,” added her brother. “I heard you fart through the wall last night.”
“And yet you, dear brother, didn’t mind having noisy sex with Anna, despite said paper-thin walls.”
“Shit, you heard us? Sorry. I thought we were being quiet.”
Josie laughed. “Right. Here’s your tea, Romeo. You can do the coffee; I’m getting in the shower because I stink.”
As predicted, Laura, Adam, little Theo and their mother arrived just after eleven. Their mother was carrying no gift for David, only a card.
“No birthday present for you, this is it, I’m afraid,” she reminded David as they settled in Josie’s small, sunny living room. “You had birthday and Christmas all in one, with that wetsuit.”
“Fine, Mum. As previously agreed,” he replied, with an eyeroll to Josie. “Hey, we met Josie’s new squeeze, Peter, last night. He seems like a nice bloke. You like him, don’t you, Bosie?”
“Well, we’ve only had three dates. But yes, I like him,” Josie said, putting a fresh pot of coffee on the ottoman.
“Lovely, darling,” her mother replied, although whether this was directed at the coffee or the new romance was unclear.
Laura and Adam were still organizing themselves and Theo, now four years old, in the hallway. They had several enormous bags with them. Children seemed to need so much stuff. No wonder they hadn’t shown any signs of wanting another child.
“Hi, Bosie. Sorry about all the junk.” Laura hugged Josie.
“No problem, baby girl. How’s my little guy?”
“I’m good, thanks,” joked Adam, leading Theo into the living room. “Oh, this little guy? He’s a monster. Don’t be fooled by the puppy-dog expression. He’ll tear out your very soul, won’t you, kiddo? Say hello to your Auntie Josie.”
Theo looked up at her with his huge blue eyes, reached his still-chubby arms up to her and said, “Hello, Auntie Bosie.” She picked him up and snuggled with him on the couch as David opened birthday gifts.
Theo also presented both David and Josie each with a paper plate covered in tiny seashells, sprinkled with glitter.
“Thanks, buddy,” Josie told him. “I love it. I’m going to hang it on my wall.”
“The shells might need more glue,” apologized Laura. “And the glitter gets everywhere, so don’t brush against it.”
Lounging on the couch, Adam sighed at his demure child sitting on Josie’s lap. “He’s a different child from the one at four o’clock this morning, isn’t he, honey?”
“Unrecognizable,” Laura replied.
“But worth it, though — right?” asked David, uncharacteristically interested in his sister’s parenting experience.
“Sure,” Laura replied with a shrug. “It’s a nightmare half the time, but you love your child so much you wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
“That’s good to hear.” David flashed his girlfriend a smile and raised his eyebrows in question. Anna nodded.
Josie looked at each of them in turn. “What’s going on?”
“Well, sorry to distract from important fortieth birthday business,” replied David, “but there was a reason I made such a fuss of us being in New York together on this auspicious occasion. We’re rarely all in one room, and Anna and I have important news.
Actually, two lots of news. Well, three, really . . .”
“You’re pregnant?” squealed Laura.
David winked, as Anna beamed beside him. “We are,” she said. “Ten weeks, so it’s early days. Due in early October. This is a bit embarrassing, but we conceived about a week after we met. It wasn’t . . . planned.”
“But we’re so happy about it,” David added. “And for us, it was love at first sight. We knew straight away we wanted to be together. Which brings us to our second bit of news.” David paused and looked at Anna again. “We’re getting married.”
Laura squealed again and threw her arms round her brother. “Wow, congratulations.”
They all stood to hug David and his new fiancée. “That’s wonderful — I’m so happy for you both,” Josie told them, tears forming.
Her crazy brother — now going to be a husband and father. And she had thought this would never happen. Now, not only was he alive, but he was becoming the man she always knew he could be. It was more than she could’ve dreamed.
As they sat again, recovering from the bombshell, David added, “I realize it’s soon, we only met in January but . . . this is it, for me. We both knew.”
Anna smiled and kissed him, adding, “Yeah, I never imagined I’d go to London for a year and meet the man I’d marry. To think, I almost didn’t go to that pub on New Year’s Eve.”
Adam finally got a word in. “So what was the third bit of news? You said there were three.”
“Right,” replied David, more nervous. “Here’s the thing.
Anna wants — we both want — to raise our child, and hopefully more kids, in Australia.
It’s important to her to be near family after the baby comes, and you know how much I love Sydney.
So . . . we’re moving to Sydney. Probably in July, before Anna gets too pregnant to fly long-haul. ”
“Plus my work visa expires then,” pointed out Anna. “Since we won’t be getting married until after the baby is born, I can’t stay in the UK after the end of July.”
They all sat for a moment, absorbing the news.
Sydney.
Josie had emigrated to New York herself, but Australia was a lot farther to fly. She’d hardly ever see David. And he’d be so busy with his new baby, as well as his new wife and her family . . .
“Wow,” Josie said. “That’s great. Really fantastic. We’re all excited for you, aren’t we?” She turned to the others.
Adam replied, “Yeah, it’s brilliant — congrats.” Theo was looking around at all their faces, sucking his little thumb, wondering what was going on.
Josie’s mother seemed stunned, clearly thinking about her new grandchild being so far away. But Laura piped up, “Absolutely. It makes total sense.”
David, eager to convince his family, pressed on.
“And those guys I was surfing with last time, you remember — Brad is already hooking me up with an amazing job at one of the big Sydney investment banks. Like, top notch, a big pay bump. We’ll be able to get a big house near the city.
It’ll be a good life for us and our kids. Better than London.”
“Of course, darling,” said their mother at last. She nodded, visibly adjusting. “It may be far away, but it’s only a plane ride, isn’t it? That’s what we found when Josie moved. We thought it’d be hard, but we’ve never felt very separated.”
“Totally,” replied David, earnestly. “Plus we’ll come back around once a year, either to London or New York, and we’ll all get together like this, and it’ll be fine.” He didn’t sound too certain.
Anna clutched his hand. “I’m not taking him away from you, I promise. Seriously, with the salary at his new job, we can afford to splash out on flights, or fly you guys out to see us.”
“We’ll work it out,” Josie told them both, getting up to hug them again, trying to smile. “Congratulations, on all of it. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.” She exhaled. “Okay, now. Lunch.”
Later, in bed, she couldn’t help it . . . the tears came.
They were going to be so far away. She knew David had every intention of visiting, but with the baby and his new life, she’d see him every couple of years, if she was lucky.
She was going to lose him all over again.
Josie lay in bed, sleepless. Her mind traced back to her hardest time with Rob, her husband holding her as she wept over losing her brother after their wedding. She tried to imagine she was in Rob’s arms again. To feel like, if she didn’t get to have David in her life, at least she had Rob.
But the truth was she no longer had her husband, and soon, she’d barely have a brother.
When Josie had woken up that morning, being in this world had made some kind of sense, with her brother and his girlfriend in the next room, and her family all together in New York for his fortieth birthday.
And since starting her fling with Peter, she’d been so much more cheerful.
He wasn’t Rob, of course, but he was a great guy who cared about her.
Now it looked like she didn’t have long with David, even if they were in the same world.
What would she have then, besides Peter?
The man who was — let’s face it — her second choice.