Page 16 of Snow Going Back

‘Lance, come on,’ Kate said gently. ‘I’ll come back and forth to sort whatever I need to for the wedding. Bob even put his PA at my disposal to make things as smooth as possible.’

‘Why? Where’s Pam?’ he asked.

‘Busy handing all my cases over to other people.’ Kate paused, but Lance had fallen into a brooding silence. ‘Look, I’ll explain everything properly when I get back, but just know that I tried to get out of it. I really did, but there’s no other way.’

Lance opened his mouth to speak but then clamped it back shut and just shook his head.

‘It’s not ideal, I know. But Amy and Mum are both absolutely itching to get involved. I’ll speak to them tomorrow and let them loose.’ She forced a smile, trying to break the tension. ‘They can make sure things are going to schedule and cover anything I can’t. It’ll be fine. Really, the only thing that I can’t delegate is finding my dress.’

Lance sighed sharply. ‘It will have to do, I guess.’ He ran his hand back through his sandy gold hair and sighed. ‘I hope they appreciate what you’re doing for them here.’

A frown flickered across Kate’s brows. ‘I’m just doing my job, Lance. You know how it is, the weekends, the late nights – you’ve just got in yourself. It’s what we do.’

‘Fornow, sure,’ Lance responded. ‘But we’re getting married soon. I just hope they understand what that means.’

Kate blinked at the screen. ‘Whatdoesthat mean?’

‘Well, you won’t be at their beck and call to jet around the world putting out their fires forever, Kate. We’ll bemarried. Your priorities will change.’

‘Towhatexactly?’ she asked slowly.

Lance tutted. ‘Tous, to ourfuture. We’ll be building a proper home somewhere soon. Finding the right place, turning it from house to home. That alone will be a huge project. And when our children come, that’ll change things considerably. Raising them will be a full-time job. They won’t be able to pull you away like this then. If you’re even still working at that point.’

Kate’s eyebrows flew sharply upwards. ‘I’m sorry,what?’ she asked. ‘Why wouldn’t I be working? Surely if we have kids, we’d juggle them and our careers between us.’

It was Lance’s turn to look surprised. ‘That wouldn’t be a very stable environment, Kate, being tossed between two busy overloaded parents. Children need their mother to be a constant.’

Kate felt the prickly heat begin to rise from her chest up and around her throat again. She placed a hand on the back of her neck and rubbed it.

‘There’s nothing wrong with two working parents, Lance. And I haven’t worked as hard as I have for my career to give it all up and become a stay-at-home mum,’ she said in an apologetically stubborn tone.

‘There’s nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mum, Kate. Raising children is the most noble job a woman can do,’ Lance berated.

‘I didn’t say otherwise, but it just isn’t what I’ve personally spent all these years working towards,’ Kate responded, feeling the heat reach her face. ‘And why are we debating all this? We’ve not even discussed kids yet – whether we even want them, and if so when, in the distant realm ofsomedaythat might happen. We’ve barely been engaged two days!’

‘Someday?’ Lance repeated. ‘Kate, we’re not starstruck kids with all the time in the world ahead. For two people of our age about to get married, I assumed it was a given that kids aren’t in the too distant future atall.Thatisthe point, after all, isn’t it? A family? And with the utmost respect here, and though I trulyhateto sound like your mother, youdoonly have so much time biologically.’

Kate stared at him in disbelief. ‘I’m thirty-five, Lance, not sixty! Women have kids well into their forties all the time.’

‘I know, but there’s a lot to think about. What if we struggle to get pregnant? What if we want a gap between each child? What about thehealthrisks that increase with age?’ Lance let out a long breath. ‘I’m just thinking about things practically. When you take everything into consideration and plan backwards from the outer edge of your physical ability, it lands us pretty much here.’

Kate opened her mouth to respond but just ended up shaking her head, for once lost for words.

‘Look, we don’t have to talk about this now,’ Lance said finally. ‘But you do need to think about it. I mean, come on, Kate. You’re the biggest planner I know. You run your life with the precision of a military general, so why would this be any different?’ He raised an eyebrow in question. ‘Set all the variables out and work the plan back. You’ll see what I’m saying. We can come back to this conversation then. Now, when will you be back?’

Kate paused and bit her lip, staring back at him through the screen. Her flight back was booked for Friday night, but after this conversation, she suddenly wanted to go home even less than she had before.

‘I’m not sure yet,’ she lied. She’d get Erica to cancel it for now, she decided. Then she could rebook when she was ready.

‘You’re notsure?’ Lance repeated.

‘I need to see what dates are best to come back, but it won’t be too long,’ she told him vaguely. ‘This place is just a lot further than Boston, so I need to sit down and figure it all out properly.’

Lance let out a resigned sigh and rubbed his eyes once more. ‘Right. OK,’ he replied. ‘Just let me know as soon as you can. I’ll book a nice restaurant for when you get back, take you for dinner.’ He smiled at her tiredly. ‘We haven’t actually celebrated our engagement just the two of us yet.’

Kate nodded. ‘Life gets in the way of everything, right?’ she joked.

Lance nodded wryly. ‘I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Sleep well.’

---