Page 138 of Private Lives

‘I didn’t want to pry,’ said Anna guiltily.

Sid looked unconvinced.

‘Don’t worry. I’ve been expecting this for months. And you know what? I actually feel relieved. It’s been hard living a lie for so long. I had to keep going for Charlie,’ she said, indicating the toddler.

Anna nodded, unable to think what to say. All the time she’d been following Sid, she’d been rehearsing a speech about loyalty and commitment and how she felt let down. But now she saw just how horribly wrong she’d been about the girl.

‘Helen’s not going to like it,’ she said with a wry smile.

Sid laughed. ‘Who cares what Helen thinks? I’ve only got two weeks left at the place anyway. The problem is I haven’t found another job yet, and if this gets out . . . I might find it more difficult than I am already. Single mums aren’t exactly top of corporate recruiters’ lists, are they?’

Anna wondered if she had any sway at the firm. Maybe Matt Donovan might be receptive to finding Sid more work. After all, she’d heard he had a child of his own.

‘That was my mum who just left,’ added Sid. ‘I still live with my folks and Mum looks after Charlie while I’m at work. She’s brilliant, but sometimes she gets frustrated with it all, like today, when she’s got other stuff to do . . .’

‘I heard you on the phone at work. That’s why I followed you. I wondered what was going on.’

‘Why, what did you think it was?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Anna quickly.

‘Come on, you followed me for some reason,’ Sid chided.

Anna felt on the spot.

‘I heard you talking about needing money . . .’

Sid laughed. ‘Thought I was selling secrets to the Sun, did you?

‘Something like that.’

‘Still pissed off about the Sam Charles injunction?’

‘It’s not a question of being pissed off, Sid, it’s about finding out what went wrong.’

‘Let it go, Anna,’ said Sid passionately. ‘People have stopped talking about it, the work is piling in for you, and I know you’re speaking to Sam because he phoned the office for you the other day. Oh shit, I forgot to pass the message on . . .’

Anna laughed off her embarrassment. Sam had been ringing her every couple of days; checking in, he called it, but there was something about their contact that felt illicit.

She looked over at Charlie.

‘He’s beautiful, Sid,’ she said, feeling a warm glow that surprised her.

‘I know.’ Sid grinned.

‘Is his dad in the picture?’ she asked as diplomatically as she could.

Sid shook her head.

‘I got pregnant at law school. Max, Charlie’s father, was a student at LSE. American, rich. Not sure what he saw in me.’ She smiled. ‘We decided to keep it, we were going to get married, set up home, all that romantic crap. He was going to live off his trust fund and look after the baby while I did my training contract.’

‘So what happened?’

She gave a cold laugh.

‘Have a guess. That bohemian romantic ideal lasted for about a nanosecond, until his parents heard about it and went bananas. He left me a note and buggered off back to America the second he graduated.’ She shrugged. ‘It was too late for an abortion. His family offered me a thousand dollars a month maintenance, but I told them to stuff it. They’ve never even met their grandson.’

‘But I don’t understand how you’ve kept it hidden all this time.’