Page 44 of Falling for His Best Friend

‘What colour would you like?’ Jess asked as she held out a selection of nail polishes. Cam had gone to play golf while Kitty visited Jess and they’d decided to spend the afternoon pampering themselves.

‘That one,’ Kitty said, choosing a pale pink.

‘Is Joe working today?’ Jess asked as she shook the little bottle before unscrewing the cap.

‘Yes. This is his last week in the office. He should get the splint removed next week and he hopes then to be allowed back on the road as a spare.’

‘Does that mean he’ll be able to manage at home without you?’

‘Mmm-hmm.’

‘Has he asked you to stay?’

Kitty shook her head. ‘No. There’s no reason for me to stay once the splint comes off.’ He wouldn’t need her once the splint was removed, even though she’d be happy to stay. It was ironic really—usually she was eager to be the one leaving before she could be left, but she and Joe were still in the early stages of their relationship and she was happy. She hadn’t been really happy in a long time.

‘How do you feel about that?’ Jess asked. ‘Were you hoping he would?’

‘Yes.’ Kitty answered honestly, avoiding eye contact with Jess whose head was bent over Kitty’s feet as she painted her toenails. Kitty’s pregnant bump made that impossible now. ‘I was always planning on coming back here to you until the baby was born, and Joe knows that, but it would have been nice for him to ask. It would validate our relationship.’

She’d always planned on moving back in with Jess and Cam once Joe didn’t need her help any more but she’d got used to their living—and sleeping—arrangements and she didn’t actually want to leave.

‘Maybe you should start the discussion,’ Jess suggested, but Kitty shook her head.

Joe had said nothing. He’d given no hint as to where he thought their relationship might be heading. She shouldn’t have been surprised, she knew he never got serious. It shouldn’t upset her. It shouldn’t bother her. But it did. Their relationship felt right—perfect even—and she’d never felt like that before, about anyone. But she knew Joe didn’t believe in perfect. He didn’t believe in happily ever after. He wouldn’t commit and she’d just have to accept that and hope that, at the end of the day, they could remain friends.

‘Even if you move back here until the baby comes, where would you like to live once the baby is born? You’d be welcome to stay here, of course,’ Jess offered as she started to cough.

‘Thanks, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ Kitty was starting to realise how hard it was going to be to relinquish the baby, and being in the same house would only make it more difficult. She needed to remember the baby wasn’t hers, and that would be easier to do if she had some distance. ‘You and Cam will need time with your baby by yourselves. Time to adjust to becoming a family.’

Jess was still coughing as Kitty finished speaking, so Kitty went to the kitchen to fetch a glass of water. Jess had had the cough for a while now and Kitty had been meaning to ask her about it but every time she started to, the conversation seemed to get redirected to talk of Joe or the baby or how Kitty was feeling. She’d ask her about it now, she decided as she filled the glass. Silence returned as she carried the drink back into the lounge. Jess had stopped coughing but was hunched over.

‘Are you all right?’ Kitty asked as she rubbed Jess’s back.

Jess looked up. Her eyes were wide with fright and Kitty could hear her fighting to breathe.

‘Oh, my God,’ Kitty said. ‘Is there something stuck in your throat?’ she asked, knowing there couldn’t be. They hadn’t eaten. What was happening?

‘Can you sit up?’

Jess shook her head. ‘Hurts.’

Was she going blue around the lips? Surely she wouldn’t deteriorate that quickly?

Kitty pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled 000.

‘I need an ambulance. It’s my sister. She can’t breathe,’ she said when she got through to Dispatch. ‘No, there’s no airway obstruction. I’m a nurse. Please hurry.’

Kitty put her phone on speaker while they waited, not wanting to be distracted. She boiled the kettle, wondering if warm, moist air would make breathing easier, before hurrying back into the lounge room. She didn’t want to leave Jess alone. Her sister was fighting for air. Kitty placed two fingers on Jess’s wrist, feeling for her pulse. Her touch met with rapid beats.

Please hurry. Kitty willed the ambulance to arrive but prepared herself to breathe for her sister.

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