Page 14 of Choose Us

“Are you sat down?”

“I’m lying down because it’s 4 a.m. andI’m in bed.”

“Snarky.”

“Paula, please tell me.”

She took two large breaths. The suspense was too dramatised. This better be good.

“Danielle is pregnant.” The linewent silent.

My eyes shot open, and I jolted upright.

“Danielle, as in the woman I spent eight years of my life with. That Danielle?”

“No, Danielle who works behind the bar at my local pub. Of course that Danielle.” Paula scoffed.

“What? How?”

“Well, this thing happens when a man and a woman—”

I interrupted, “Very funny. I can’t believe it. Who told you?” I was alert, and it no longer felt like the middle of the night.

“Ashleigh from work has a cousin who is best friends with a girl called Emma. This Emma girl has a brother called Ryan. He told Emma he’d been approached to be a sperm donor for two girls named Danielle and Sophie.” Paula reeled off any story like she was reading from a newspaper article. She was articulate andfact driven.

“Seriously?” I shrieked. “They’ve been together a year. She barely knows the girl.”

“You lesbians move fast,” Paula pointed out. It was true; we were an act now think later kind of community. I had no deep feelings about the situation. I left that relationship for a reason. She wanted kids and marriage in her future, and I didn’t, at least not with her.

The door creaked open. Beth stood in a set of pineapple pyjamas with her matching eye mask shoved up into her hair.

She rubbed at her eyes. “What’s going on? I heard yelling.”

She closed the door behind her and sauntered over to the bed.“Move over.”

“Paula’s just telling me Danielle is pregnant.” I wiggledmy eyebrows.

“The Danielle?”

“Yep.”

“Damn, shemoves fast.”

“Exactly what I said.” I placed the phone on loudspeaker so she could be part of the conversation. Paula gave us a five-minute rundown of everything she’d heard from Ashleigh, every detail down to the clothes Ashleigh was wearing, which held absolutely no relevance.

“Wait, what did you say then?” I asked.

“I said Ashleigh told me in confidence, so please don’t say anything,” Paula replied.

“No, you said something aboutFrancesca.”

“Oh, I said Ashleigh told me outside the building at work, before she went for lunch withFrancesca.”

I found that strange.

“Since when have Ashleigh and Francesca been friends?” I asked.

“They met at your birthday party last year. Don’t you remember? They really hit it off. Since then, they’ve been close friends.”