Page 122 of Endgame

‘Zach, you have to admit it is a great idea going through it together,’ Ariella adds, supporting Isszy.

‘You’re only supporting this because Sophia has branded you her nemesis and you need someone else.’

‘Maybe, but Isszy would be an amazing pregnancy buddy.’ She chuckles.

‘Hurry up and finish eating. Let’s start tonight!’ Isszy says, clapping.

We don’t see Dahlia and Hugh for the rest of the afternoon. While we all know that they are up there fighting, there is a certain respect that I have for them, starting a challenging conversation in front of us and making it private when it seems neither of them is willing to budge. We wait until Zachary finishes eating – slower than I have seen anyone eat in my life to delay the trip home. When he eventually finishes, Isszy drags him out of the house as he continues to complain. We leave with them, after sticking a copy of the scan to the front of the fridge. It makes me laugh. Ariella Mason is the only person I know who seems to gravitate towards using the sticky note to deliver life-changing news.

‘How did it go?’ Lara calls from the couch as soon as we walk in. There are upsides to having Lara living with us, but the disadvantages require a workaround.

‘It’s all a bit up in the air,’ Ariella responds, walking toward her friend.

‘Aari, can I have a word upstairs please?’ I ask before she reaches her destination.

Lara drops her phone and looks at both of us suspiciously. ‘You have a child in there. Do anything to jeopardise that and I will end you both.’

I reach out my hand and lead my girlfriend upstairs. Once we are behind the closed bedroom door, I step close enough to her to hold her face in my hands and look directly into her eyes.

‘Thank you for today,’ I whisper, just in case Lara is eavesdropping.

‘Thank you for every single loving, frustrating, heartbreaking, consuming, freeing, infuriating and supportive thing you have ever done, Caleb.’ She means it.

I kiss my girlfriend from the depths of my soul and, when she returns it, I know this is it. Our kiss tips over slowly into desire.

‘So, I’ve been on the internet…’ I raise an eyebrow.

‘I asked the midwife,’ Ariella giggles, beating me to my thoughts.

‘Ariella Mason, what am I going to do with you?’ The fact that, through all of this, the idea crossed her mind is astounding. What is going on in that mind of hers?

‘I don’t know, but we only have two days left and, thanks to me, we’re behind. Make them count, Black.’

‘Ariella, with you, we are always right on time.’

We slip too easily into that bubble of nothing but each other and stay there well into the next afternoon on our familiar sleep, chat, shower rotation. I only come down to get some water, snacks and Ariella’s vitamins. All I get from Lara is, ‘Disgusting,’ but, as much as she tries, she can’t hide the smile that is making its way across her face.

The hardest thing I have ever done in my life is get on that plane to Singapore. Aside from personal and financial ruin, I don’t believe there is anything I won’t do to return to Ariella and my daughter. As soon as I get back to my new flat, I cast the video of the scan to my TV. She’s perfect. And feisty. She wiggles around, tossing and turning on the screen throughout the ninety-second video. She was a sesame seed at one point.

I place a quick call to Ariella to let her know that I have arrived safely, before I find a way to separate the life I want from the life that I currently have.

Thankfully the work that has piled up over the last three weeks will need some careful handling but, before I get going, I have a 7a.m. meeting with Samir. He obviously wants to release his wrath before everyone gets in.

He’s sitting in his office when I turn up. ‘Caleb. The way you disappeared was completely unacceptable.’

‘Samir, I’m not a child. What are the consequences?’ There really is nothing Samir can do or say to make me regret what I did for a second.

‘You’re grounded in Singapore.’

‘I was expecting that. What else?’

‘You need to catch up and repair the relationships you almost destroyed while you were gone.’

‘Catch up, fine, but the relationships are good. Lydia told them I had a personal emergency, which I actually did. The clients have been much more understanding than you have. Dominic, I get. You, on the other hand, know what’s happening here. It’s much harder to understand.’

‘I don’t make the rules, Caleb, I just play the game.’

‘Then play it better, Samir.’

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