Page 87 of Original Sin

Tess actually gasped. It felt as if she’d been slapped in the face. She had been so excited about getting them a table at Per Se, widely believed to be the best restaurant in a city awash with amazing eating places, that she had told Dom about it as soon as he had arrived the night before. Per Se had a seventeen–course menu and a two–month waiting list, but Tess had used Brooke’s name to jump the queue. It was a huge coup – there were people on the Upper East Side who would literally kill for their table and she was simply stunned that Dom would twist something Tess had lovingly arranged as a special romantic treat into a negative.

Jack came back through the door, polishing an apple on his shirt, then taking a bite.

‘Hey, I like your T–shirt,’ he said to Dom. ‘What do they sing?’

‘The Ramones?’ he stuttered, momentarily floored. ‘Oh, you know. Just stuff.’

Jack started laughing. ‘Why are you wearing their T–shirt if you don’t know any of their songs?’

Tess spurted out her tea.

‘Tess says you’re moving to New York,’ Jack went on chattily.

‘Probably, yes,’ said Dom, clearly uncomfortable.

‘Cool. Maybe we could go and see a band or something.’

‘But you’re about ten,’ sneered Dom.

‘Twelve next week.’

Just then, a muffled hip–hop tune came from Jack’s jeans. He scrabbled to pull a bright orange cell phone from his pocket. Looking at the screen, he tutted.

‘Shit, it’s mom. She’s there already.’

‘Jack,’ said Tess. ‘Don’t swear.’

‘Guess I shouldn’t be surprised,’ he said. ‘Mom’s new boyfriend has this super–fast car. An Aston Martin DB9. James Bond’s car.’

Dom looked over. ‘Actually James Bond drives the DB7,’ he said, a superior note in his voice. ‘What does he do, your mum’s boyfriend?’

‘Hot tubs.’

‘Well, that reminds me,’ said Dom, climbing off the sofa. ‘I’m going for a shower. We’re going out very soon,’ he added pointedly.

When he was gone, Jack grabbed Tess’s arm and whispered in her ear. ‘Can you walk me back to the apartment?’ he hissed, looking warily towards the bathroom. ‘Just you.’

‘I’m kind of busy, Jack,’ said Tess. ‘Dom and I have a really busy day. I don’t see him too often, you know.’

‘Please?’ he said, his eyes wide. ‘My mum and her boyfriend are collecting me and I want my mum to think … ’ He tailed off.

‘What?’

‘I want her to think that my dad has girlfriends too,’ he said, colouring a little. ‘Especially pretty ones with smart clothes like you.’

Shaking her head, Tess grabbed her coat. ‘Come on then, be quick. I want to be back before Dom gets out of the shower.’

When they were on the street, Jack cast a sidelong glance up at Tess.

‘He doesn’t like kids, does he?’ he said.

‘No, not really,’ smiled Tess, playfully snatching Jack’s apple and taking a bite.

She thought back to a holiday they had taken two years earlier to Antigua, a press trip where Dom was supposed to be checking out a new five–star boutique hotel. Tess had missed her period and, convinced she was pregnant, blurted it out to Dom as they had been about to leave the hotel. Dom had been silent on the nine–hour journey home, his eyes fixed on the seat–back in front of him even when he wasn’t watching the movies.

His first words when they landed at Heathrow were, ‘You’d better buy a pregnancy test, then.’ It wasn’t until they were back in the relative safety of the Battersea Park flat, Tess nervously clutching her little paper Boots bag in front of her, that they had talked about it.

‘So what if I’m pregnant?’ she had asked. She was scared and excited at the same time. She’d been twenty–seven, hardly a teen mother.