Page 55 of Cuts Like An Angel: Part 3

“Wow. Look at her. She doing okay?”

“Yeah. Her fella’s a bit of a dick. But you know how she is. Tough as anything that one. I’ll give it another year before she’s kicked him out on his arse.”

“Okay,” Rosie said. “I know I’ve already made an idiot of myself once tonight and insulted you too, so I don’t think I can make it any worse. So, I’ll come right out with it,” Rosie said, her hands clasped on her lap. “How in the hell do you two have a kid together? It’s not a goat. I figured that much, but it leaves me stumped. Oh yes, laugh, laugh, laugh. Go on both of you,” she said at their outbursts of breathless laughter.

Mark held his chest as he howled at her words. Rosie put her arms across her chest and waited.

“Our kid means little sister,” William said between breaths. He was still chuckling as he kissed the side of her neck.

“I think I need a dictionary to keep up with you two.”

“It’s simple. Think of the most stupid answer and then dumb it down, and you’ve got it right,” Mark said.

“I thought the English were meant to be clever.”

“We are, but only when we’re being the bad guys.”

They just about finished their laughing fit when the waitress came for their food orders. None of them had glanced at the menu yet, but it was easy for William. He ordered toad in the hole, and as Rosie stared at him with an odd expression, he said. “There’s no toads in it. It’s sausage in a batter. Do you want to try it?”

“Will I like it?”

“Well, if you want good old English food, it’s a good place to start,” Mark said.

They ordered. She did order the same as William, and Mark ordered some lamb dish that sounded awful by the name of it. But it left his mind the moment his phone started to vibrate against the table. It rattled so much that it made the table vibrate with it, but William’s heart almost shot out of his throat as the wrong ringtone rang out, and alerted Rosie to the fact, he had another phone.

He grabbed for it quickly and silenced it, his eyes going straight to Rosie to see if she’d noticed. But she only smiled at him.

“My mother,” he said to both Rosie and Mark. “I’ll just be a second.” He clicked accept on the phone and asked the caller to give him a second, then he excused himself and made his way out the front of the place to where it was quiet, and he wouldn’t have to shout.

“Dana,” he said. He’d given her his other number, telling her to call if she needed anything.

“Sorry,” she said, her voice thick with upset. He didn’t have to see her to hear it in her word.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah … I …” her voice cracked, and she took in a deep, shaky breath. “Sorry. I didn’t … I shouldn’t have called you. I don’t know …” She broke off into sobs and William moved himself closer to the outside door where it was quieter still.

“It’s totally fine. What’s happened?”

“She’s pregnant,” she said, blurting it right out. “Fucking pregnant. Sorry. I didn’t know who else to call. I know you don’t know me, and this isn’t your problem. God … sorry. I should go. I …”

“It’s okay,” William said. He got it. The need to tell someone anonymous. It didn’t matter that your spouse was making an idiot out of you. “Talk to me. Tell me about it,” he said, nipping out to the smoker’s patio, where it was at least warm. “I might not be able to fix it, but it’ll get it out. Tell me what happened.”

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