Frisky Business (52 page)

‘Um … problem,’ he said, running his hand through his hair. ‘We’re running out of supplies.’

‘Oh, no, I’m sure
not. There was plenty of milk in the fridge this morning. And don’t forget we’ve got all that stuff in the freezer too. Don’t worry about it,’ she said, beckoning him to her, impatient to get on with the ravishing.

But Ethan was shaking his head. ‘No, I don’t mean food. We’re running out of condoms,’ he said, waving the box. ‘Look.’ He crossed the room to her.

‘Oh!’ They both gazed down forlornly into the box. There was one foil packet at the bottom. ‘Is that it?’ she asked in a tiny voice.’
That can’t be it!

‘Yeah.’ He sighed. ‘I didn’t realise.’

‘Noooo!’ Romy couldn’t suppress her cry of anguish. How could this have happened? Why had they been so profligate? They had been going at it like rabbits on ecstasy, with no thought of tomorrow, and now suddenly they only had one shag left. One shag!

‘I know.’ He gave her a pained look. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It’s not your fault. It’s just – aaargh!’

‘So, do you want to – I mean, maybe we should save it for tonight or—’

‘But what if the snow doesn’t clear tomorrow?’ Romy asked with rising panic. She knew she wasn’t behaving in a very dignified manner, and if she wasn’t so damn horny, she might actually feel quite ashamed of herself. But the lust was all-consuming. Her libido had staged a mutiny and taken over her brain, and was already hatching plans for her to hike through the snow to the nearest pharmacy.

‘I could pull out,’ Ethan suggested.

Her mouth twisted. ‘It’s a bit risky.’

‘I always use protection. And I’ve been tested regularly for work, so I know I’m clean. But if you’re not comfortable—’

‘It’s not that. But I’m not on the pill.’

‘Oh! Okay. Too risky, then.’

‘Yeah.’ She
chewed her lip.

‘Well, there’s lots of other stuff we can do,’ Ethan said.

‘True.’ She smiled, relaxing a little. ‘But what about tomorrow? And the day after? If the snow lasts—’

‘Ssh,’ he said, bending to kiss her before pulling her sweater off in one fluid movement. ‘We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes. We’re wasting time here.’

‘You okay?’ he said later as they lay in each other’s arms, their skin sticky with sweat and saliva.

‘More than okay,’ she grinned at him. ‘Fabulous. You?’

‘Fantastic.’

‘Other stuff is fun.’ She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest. ‘Was it really okay for you?’

‘Uh,
yeah
,’ he said. ‘Couldn’t you tell?’

‘I thought maybe you were just being nice.’

She felt his chest rise and fall as he laughed. ‘You’re funny,’ he said, his fingers moving through her hair. ‘It’s not easy to fake that, you know.’

‘Sorry. It’s just – I haven’t done this in a long time – a
very
long time. Not since Luke’s father. And that hardly even counts.’

‘Who was he?’ he asked, immediately adding ‘You don’t have to tell me.’

She propped her chin on his chest and looked up at him. ‘No, I don’t mind. But there’s not much to tell. It was just a one-night stand with a stranger. I don’t even know his name.’

Ethan stroked her cheek. ‘Do you mind – not knowing?’

She sighed. ‘Not so much for myself. But I wish I had something better to tell Luke when he grows up.’

‘What will you tell him?’

‘The
truth. And I’ll tell him what little I do know about his father.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘That he was a good man,’ she said, reciting the words she often said to Luke as she lulled him to sleep. ‘A compassionate man. And he was kind to me once when I was very sad.’

She already told Luke about his father, repeating it like a bedtime story, as though he could absorb it into his psyche, though he was too young to understand. Since discovering she was pregnant, she had dissected every detail of that night, scrutinised every word spoken for what it could tell her about the father of her child. Then she wove it into a fable that she told Luke as she soothed him to sleep, imbuing her narrative with all the classical elements of a fairytale – a mysterious knight, a healing kiss, the gift of a baby. ‘Your father is a good man, Luke,’ she would say, as she stroked his soft cheeks. ‘Young, but wise, with a good heart. He understood human suffering. Even though I told him my worst secret, he still kissed me.’

‘It’s not much,’ she said now to Ethan, as he stroked her hair.

‘It seems like a lot to me – for a one-night stand.’

‘Yeah,’ she said, smiling as she laid her head on his chest. ‘We didn’t bother with small talk – thank goodness. I know so little about him – I don’t even know his name or what he does for a living. But at least I feel I know what kind of person he was.’

The following morning, Romy placed the condom box on the windowsill in the kitchen, like a monument to their resourcefulness and frugality. She felt like a wartime housewife, storing
up their meagre rations for when they would need them most.

They wouldn’t have to hold out much longer, she thought, looking out the window. There had been no fresh snow in the past couple of days, and when she flicked on the radio, the weather reporter said that there was a thaw on the way. It seemed to have already started, fat dollops of snow dropping off the branches of the trees, the whole landscape shimmering and glistening in the dazzling sunlight. At least their snowman was still intact. She felt sad at the thought of him melting away and wished there was some way they could preserve him.

She and Ethan had agreed that they should return to Dublin as soon as the roads were driveable. It was less than a week to Christmas, and the long-term forecast was for more snow. If they didn’t leave when they got the chance, they could end up stuck here for Christmas. When the oil company rang to say they would deliver the following day, she knew it was time.

‘We’ll use it tonight,’ she told Ethan, nodding to the condom.

But Luke had other ideas. He was fractious all day and kept them awake most of the night, crying incessantly. It was impossible to pacify him, and Romy began to worry that there was something seriously wrong with him. But Ethan checked him out and assured her he was fine.

‘I think he’s probably teething,’ he told her – which made sense considering the way Luke was frenziedly gumming every available object.

Though they took turns pacing the floor with him, neither of them got much sleep, and when Ethan got up with him the following morning, it felt like only minutes had passed since Luke had finally settled down and fallen asleep.

‘You stay here, get some rest,’ Ethan said, kissing Romy on the
forehead as he slid out of bed. She was about to protest, but her eyes were already closing.

She woke hours later to a deep rumbling sound outside. Getting up and going to the window, she was greeted with the welcome sight of the oil truck chugging down the drive. Ethan was standing outside with Luke, both of them bundled up in coats and gloves while they waited for the truck.

She hopped back into bed, listening to the pumping of oil and then the truck rumbling away again into the distance. When all was silent again, Ethan came in, stamping his feet on the mat before coming over to sit on the couch with Luke on his lap.

‘What time is it?’ she asked, raising herself up on one elbow.

He glanced at his watch. ‘Two thirty.’

‘Oh my God! I must have slept for hours.’

‘Well, you needed it.’

‘So, what did I miss?’

‘Loads.’ He grinned. ‘We have oil. Luke said his first word.’

‘He did? What was it?’

‘Ethan.’

‘Huh!’

‘Aw, don’t be jealous. I’m sure it would have been ‘mama’ but you weren’t around, so …’ He shrugged. ‘Babies live in the moment.’

‘Oh, well – at least I got my lie-in. That’s the main thing.’

‘What else?’ He thought. ‘I took him for a go on the tree swing. He liked that. And he took his first step.’

‘Damn! I miss everything.’

‘I recorded it all on my mobile.’

‘Oh, that’s okay, then,’ she said snuggling back into the pillow. ‘But wake me up for his first day at school.’

‘So, what do you think of today’s outfit?’ he asked, removing Luke’s jacket.

Romy
held out her arms and he handed Luke to her. ‘Very nice,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t have put those colours together, but they really work.’ She put Luke down on the bed and lay down next to him. Luke promptly grabbed his feet, babbling tunefully to himself.

Ethan removed his jacket, kicked off his shoes and slid in beside them. He placed a soft kiss on Luke’s forehead, then Romy’s, and lay back against the pillows with a contented sigh. ‘Let’s stay here all day,’ he murmured, putting his arm across them both as his eyes closed.

Romy was tidying up the kitchen the following morning, when there was a loud banging on the door. She opened it to find Lesley, Danny and Kit standing outside.

‘Surprise!’ Lesley said, jumping up and down in glee – or maybe just to keep warm. ‘We’ve come to rescue you.’

She barged past Romy, Kit and Danny following her. She stopped abruptly in the living room, her gaze fixed on the mattress in front of the fire. ‘Oh!’ Her eyes drifted to Kit and Danny, but they had headed straight for the kitchen. ‘Maybe you don’t want rescuing,’ she whispered to Romy, nodding at the mattress.

‘Don’t be daft! The heating broke down and we had to sleep in here with the fire, that’s all. I slept here and Ethan slept on the couch, and it was all very civilised.’

‘Oh, pity,’ Lesley shrugged, seeming to accept her explanation. ‘Well, I’m going to get the sausages on. I’m starving. We brought bags of food!’ She headed to the kitchen.

When she was gone, Romy scanned the room quickly for any incriminating evidence, but there was none. They had spent all day yesterday in bed, dozing on and off, only getting up
to eat and to feed and change Luke. Even so, they had still been too tired last night for anything more than some chaste kissing before falling asleep in each other’s arms. So the condom lived to fight another day.
Shit, the condom!

She followed Lesley into the kitchen. Kit and Danny were standing in opposite corners of the room, glowering at each other, creating a decidedly frosty atmosphere, while Lesley unloaded what looked like the contents of an entire butcher’s counter into a couple of pans. Romy’s eyes darted to the windowsill, where the condom box still sat. She waited until she was sure no one was looking and grabbed it, shoving it into the cupboard under the sink. They had been planning to use it today, their last hurrah before heading back to Dublin. So much for that, she thought sadly.