Page 77 of Someone Like You

It would be amazing to raise a child alongside our closest friends’ children. We’d be one big extended family and the kids would grow up like cousins.

But there are so many other considerations, including the one Tristan just raised about having room for a baby. We’d probably have to move – and would that be closer to or further away from our friends?

And what about my parents? It would be hard on them having their only grandchild living across the world. Could I do that to them? But what’s the alternative? I don’t want to move back to Tassie. And even as a thought experiment, it’s unimaginable to see city-dweller Tristan making a life in rural Tasmania.Orme. I’m a proud and happy Londoner now.

‘Poppy.’

I snap out of my trance to find the three of them staring at me.

‘Sorry – off with the fairies,’ I say lightly, not wanting to explain what I was thinking about.

‘Your phone, darling,’ says Tristan. ‘It’s ringing.’

‘Oh! Shit.’ I leap up from the sofa and rush to my handbag. I take out my phone, seeing Gaby’s name on the screen, and answer right away.

‘Hi, Gaby, what’s up?’

‘Sorry to disturb you – I know it’s Saturday evening,’ she says.

‘No worries, but can you hold on a sec?’ I turn to the others and signal that I’ll take the call in the bedroom. They know the latest – about Gaby falling for Raff – but I don’t want to disrupt their evening with a work call. I close the door behind me and sit on the edge of the bed. ‘So, how are you doing?’ I ask.

‘Um… okay.’

After Freya messaged last night to say that she’d been to Gaby’s, I sent Gaby a supportive text, but this is the first time we’ve spoken since she told me about her feelings for Raff.

‘I imagine it’s been hard, especially as we’re seeing how things go with Raff and Julia.’

‘Well, yeah,’ she says, ‘but that’s not why I’m calling. I’ve done something…’

‘Okay.’

I have no idea what’s coming, but Gaby sounds almost cheerful.

‘And before I tell you what it is, you should know that it’s done now, and I can’t take it back. But I do need your take on it if you’re okay with that?’

Oh bugger. She hasn’t confessed her feelings to Raff, has she? I mean, she has every right to but…

‘What is it, Gaby?’ I ask, masking my unease.

‘Raff’s coming to Seattle with me for Christmas. And to my cousin’s wedding on the twenty-fourth.’

‘Oh.’ At face value, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’d wager there’s more to it than a simple trip. ‘Does Freya know?’

‘Yeah, she knows. She was there when I made the offer.’

Gaby goes on to explain how it came about and I have to say, I would have done the same thing. No one should be alone on Christmas – especially someone who loves Christmas as much as Raff seems to.

‘And I know I’m supposed to let the whole Raff-and-Julia thing unfold without interfering, and that includes not telling him how I feel, but…’

I catch the shift in her tone when she says ‘Raff and Julia’ and I sympathise with her all over again. This is just shitty luck and even shittier timing – and neither of those things are her fault. You can’t schedule falling in love like you do a dental appointment.

She’s gone silent. ‘But?’ I ask, prompting her to finish her thought.

‘But…’ She sighs. ‘What if something happens between me and Raff while we’re there? You know,organically?’

The way she says ‘organically’ is loaded with justifications, rationalisations, and a generous serving of hope.

‘In a roundabout way, are you asking for my permission to act on your feelings?’

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