The Trouble With Choices Read online

  She pulled up in Nick’s driveway behind his ute and took a deep breath as she looked up at the house. He was home. Might as well get this over with.

  Before she got there, the front door was flung open and Nick burst out, a bundle of basket and fur in his arms. He stopped and frowned when he saw her, a flash of panic in his eyes. ‘Sophie? What’s wrong with Min?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she said, ‘Min’s fine.’

  The mound of fur in the basket stirred and gave a plaintive mewl and Nick sprang back into action. ‘Sorry, I’ve got to get to the vet. Bloody cat’s been bitten by a snake.’

  ‘Not Fat Cat?’ Sophie had never met the feline, but she’d heard plenty of stories about him from Min during show-and-tell and seen his likeness in Min’s oversized drawings. From the size of the bundle in the basket, Min hadn’t been exaggerating.

  ‘Yeah, Min’ll kill me if he dies. He’s not supposed to be outside.’

  The mountain of cat writhed in its basket. ‘Oh God, can I help?’ She looked back at her car blocking his. ‘I’ll move my car.’

  He nodded and said thanks before taking a look at his tyres, one of which was flat. ‘Bloody hell, no time to change that, now. Sorry, we’ll have to take yours.’

  She pulled open the passenger door for him, but Nick had other ideas. ‘You take Fat Cat. I’ll drive.’

  And before she knew it, Sophie was sitting in the passenger seat of her tiny Mazda 2 with a lapful of the fattest, hairiest cat she’d ever seen spilling over her legs, while Nick was cursing, pulling levers and probably already regretting his snap decision, as he attempted to shoehorn himself into the driver’s seat.

  Sophie sympathised. She didn’t have a whole lot of room, either. She had one hand under the basket and with the other she stroked the cat’s shaggy head. ‘What kind of cat is he,’ she said, wondering what breed could possibly be hiding under that long coat.

  ‘Some kind of ragdoll variety,’ Nick said as he reversed out of the driveway and sped down the road, managing the gears like a rally driver. ‘Penelope gave it to Min for her birthday, only she’d had it six months already. I reckon she couldn’t stand the fur all over her furniture and Min’s birthday was the perfect excuse to get rid of it.’

  ‘Poor Fat Cat,’ she said, stroking the cat behind his ear. ‘Did you see the snake?’

  ‘Yeah, it was out by the clothesline. I saw the tail end of it disappearing with the cat following it.’ He shook his head. ‘Min’s going to kill me for letting him out. At first I thought he was okay, but then he took to his bed and started acting strangely. I rang the vet and the nurse said to bring him straight over. The sooner they get the antivenene into them, the better.’

  ‘He’ll be okay, then, won’t he?’ She’d bet her life on it with her sister on the case, but she’d hate to be wrong and for Min to lose her precious pet.

  ‘He should be.’ He glanced over at the basket. ‘How’s he going?’

  ‘He’s panting.’

  ‘Probably struggling to breathe. The venom attacks the organs.’ He changed down gears to take a sharp bend, making the tiny Mazda hug the corners in a way Sophie didn’t know was possible. ‘Come on!’ he urged the little car.

  She was leaning over, trying to check out the speedo and running her hand down the cat’s side when she felt something, and promptly forgot all about how fast they were going. She looked down at the mountain of fur on her lap and ran her hand down his side once more. Yep, there it was again. The cat mewled, a cry of distress, and stretched out long and straight onto its back. Sophie blinked down at it as the whole of its hairy stomach suddenly clenched tight and there, as the long, dense fur parted, she saw it. Something that looked one hell of a lot like a nipple.

  Uh-oh.

  ‘You did say this cat was a boy, right?’

  ‘Yeah, of course he is.’

  ‘Um, that’s really interesting because, unless I’m terribly mistaken, Fat Cat’s about to have kittens.’

  ‘What!’

  He stared in disbelief at her and the car veered across the centre line. ‘Keep your eyes on the road!’ she said, and he hauled the car back into their lane.

  ‘But he can’t be having kittens. Fat Cat is a male. Penelope said.’

  Fat Cat panted and his belly constricted, and from under his tail bulged a slick black face.

  Sophie’s eyes widened as Fat Cat bent himself in half to welcome the kitten with a ready tongue as it emerged. ‘Then he’s had a sex change,’ she said. ‘Because Fat Cat is well and truly a female.’

  ‘What the—!’ Nick said, as he looked over.

  ‘Oh wow,’ cried Sophie. ‘And there’s another one coming!’

  ‘Bloody hell.’

  By the time Nick pulled up outside the vet, Fat Cat had very much removed any question of sex and was sitting in her basket on Sophie’s lap contentedly licking her six kittens.

  ‘You clever cat,’ said Sophie, watching the new mother dote over her litter.

  ‘Do you think she’s finished now?’ asked Nick, waiting by the open passenger door.

  ‘How can you tell?’

  ‘Don’t ask me,’ he said, ‘I didn’t know she was female let alone pregnant.’

  Sophie figured that Nick was about to discover bad news really did come in threes. ‘At least she’s looking a lot better.’

  ‘She is looking better,’ he said, and smiled down at her like they’d shared something amazing, and Sophie felt the warmth of his smile zing all the way down to her toes. Damn. She blinked and broke eye contact.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘might as well get these checked out seeing we’re here.’ Nick leaned down to scoop the basket from her lap and Sophie pressed herself back into her seat, but it was impossible to get away from the stroke of his hands on her legs or the accidental brush of his fingers against hers. Impossible not to be reminded of a night of sin and the feel of his naked skin. Impossible to stop her heart from tripping and her tender nipples turning to bullets.

  By the time he’d successfully juggled away the basket and new family, she was breathless from the effort of trying not to breathe in air filled with Nick’s signature scent.

  ‘I—I’ll wait here,’ she said, climbing out after him and stretching her legs, needing clear air and headspace and a Nick-free zone. Because any minute now she’d be thinking there was something in his smile or in his eyes that spelled out happily ever after, which was exactly the sort of thing she did, making something out of nothing, imagining meaningful things that were never there. This was exactly why she ended up making a fool of herself every time over men and what she’d promised herself she’d stop doing.

  Now, it was more important than ever that she keep a level head.

  Nick shrugged and would have gone in without her, but it would have been churlish of her to expect him to juggle both the cats and the surgery door. Suddenly, the vet nurse descended on them. ‘Is this our snake bite?’ she asked, her expression moving from concern through surprise to delight when she registered the tiny kittens lined up attached to their mother’s nipples.

  ‘Maybe not the medical emergency I thought it was,’ Nick confessed, as Hannah came scurrying from a backroom and Sophie was sprung. The vet nurse clucked while Hannah looked from Nick to Sophie with questions in her eyes. Questions Sophie knew she’d have to answer later, after Hannah had taken care of her patient.

  ‘Let’s get them into an examination room,’ Hannah said, all businesslike, as Sophie made a tactical withdrawal to wait by the car, ‘and we’ll take a look.’

  Sophie chewed on her lip as she waited in the car park, knowing things were getting more complicated by the minute. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell her sister wasn’t going to ask Nick what Sophie was doing there, and he was going to be struggling to answer. The only upside was she hadn’t told him yet. And please, God, he hadn’t guessed.

  He emerged from the surgery, looking like he was still in a state of shock.

  ‘How’s Fat
Cat and Co?’ she asked, nervous about what Hannah might have asked and wanting to get in first before he did.

  ‘Good. No more kittens, but your sister says she’s showing no signs of snake bite, though she’ll keep her in overnight for observation.’

  ‘Excellent,’ she said, holding out her hand, not giving him a chance to speak. ‘Give.’

  He looked at it. ‘What?’

  ‘The keys,’ she said. ‘I think I’ll drive us home, Fernando, if it’s all the same to you.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Oh, sorry. Fernando Alonso. He’s a racing driver, too. Easy mistake to make.’

  ‘Ha,’ he said, but he handed over the keys. She took them, determined to drop him home and get away. There was way too much breeding going on today to add any more to the mix. She’d go home, regroup, and work out another angle of attack. She snapped on the radio, feigned interest in the five o’clock news, and blessedly, he didn’t say anything all the way home.

  ‘Well,’ she said, as she pulled up outside his house. ‘That was an exciting afternoon.’

  ‘It was,’ he said, infuriatingly not making a move to get out of the car.

  ‘I’m so relieved it doesn’t look like snake bite.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘Though I’d be worried about having a snake in my backyard with Min around.’

  ‘That’s the problem with living in the Adelaide Hills. They’re bound to be nearby. Most of the time we just don’t see them. I’ve put some netting around to see if we can catch it. Meanwhile, I’ll tell her to watch out, all right?’

  ‘Yeah. Best do that.’ Meanwhile, go already. This model car was far too small with a man whose scent invaded every square centimetre. A scent that reminded her of a night of tangled legs and tangled sheets, which is what had got her into this tangled mess. She slid her driver window down.

  ‘I will.’

  ‘So,’ she said, licking her lips when still he hadn’t budged, her hands a knot of fingers in her lap. ‘Have a good evening, then. Bye.’

  24

  Nick

  Nick wasn’t sure what was up with Sophie, but he was enjoying the way she suddenly seemed so nervous, wanting him out of her car like she was afraid of something. After being the one on the back foot for so long, it was a good feeling. He just needed to give her a bit of encouragement to spit out why.

  Why had she shown up out of the blue?

  Why was she so reluctant to speak up?

  ‘Sophie,’ he said, angling himself the best he could towards her in the tiny space given his knees were already butting up against the dash.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Did you have something you wanted to say to me?’

  Her eyes opened wide. ‘What?’ she said, in little more than a squeak.

  ‘Well, you came here for a reason and you said it wasn’t about Min, and unless you’re clairvoyant, I figure you didn’t drop around to give me a hand getting Fat Cat to the vet.’

  ‘No, um, I—’ She took a deep breath and exhaled on a sigh, the droop in her shoulders looking like resignation. ‘Oh God, actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.’

  ‘Spill.’

  The look she sent him was pure panic. ‘Actually, Nick, I can’t talk about this in here.’ She reached for her handle and pulled her door open. She was out of the car gulping in air, one hand on her brow, the other on her hip, by the time he managed to unfurl himself from the tiny car and join her.

  Her features looked haunted as she watched him approach, her arms suddenly wrapping around herself like she was scared. What the hell was that about? ‘Listen, Sophie, do you want to come inside? Have a beer or coffee or something?’

  ‘No!’ Her eyes darted to the house and back. ‘I’d rather stay outside.’

  He shrugged, his patience wearing thin. After today’s developments, he really could do with an ice-cold beer. ‘So, what’s this about?’

  She looked away then, and when she turned back, a blush was flaming her cheeks, her eyes darting sideways, downwards, anywhere but at him.

  ‘I’m sorry, Nick. This is so hard for me to say. I know it was just one night we spent together and that’s all it was meant to be …’

  And for the first time, Nick’s confusion and impatience gave way to an unexpected glimmer of hope, that he wasn’t wasting his time listening here, and that she couldn’t erase that night from her mind, either. The flush of her cheeks, her coyness at approaching the topic—what else could it mean? ‘It’s okay, Sophie. You don’t have to apologise.’

  Her eyes flicked up to his, framed with a frown, before darting away once more.

  ‘Look, I get that we’re both responsible for what happened,’ he went on. ‘But we’re both grown-ups. Where’s the problem?’

  ‘What?’ she said, shaking her head. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘The night we spent together,’ he said, ‘I had a good time that night. I seem to recall you having one, too. Why wouldn’t we both want to revisit that night? Isn’t that the reason you’re here?’

  ‘No! Why would you think that? That’s not why I came at all.’

  ‘What?’ He didn’t care if he sounded like an echo, because her words made no sense. Her denial that she wanted to resume their relationship made even less sense. ‘Then why did you come out here today and at a time you knew Min conveniently wouldn’t be around?’

  She lifted her chin and poked her finger into his chest. ‘Because, you fool, Fat Cat being a female and having kittens isn’t the only surprise in store for you today. I came to tell you that I’m pregnant, Nick. And you’re the father.’

  Blood roared in Nick’s ears, every last drop of it curdling and clotting with the same message. No way could this be happening again. No way!

  ‘It’s not mine,’ he said. Because he damned well knew that much and he wasn’t about to smile and pretend otherwise. ‘Don’t try pinning that on me.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t realise there was anyone else there that night.’

  ‘Who says it happened that night? You had a boyfriend, right?’

  ‘A boyfriend I hadn’t seen for weeks! There’s no question it’s yours.’

  ‘I used protection.’

  ‘And I was on the pill—mostly. It still happened. It’s still yours.’

  He snatched up her confession like it was a lifeline. ‘What do you mean “mostly”?’

  ‘I forgot to take a pill that day. It’s irrelevant. The condom had to fail before my lapse made any difference.’

  ‘Condoms don’t fail. That’s an urban myth.’

  ‘Is it? So how do you think we’re in this mess? Maybe when you went all ape on me that night and tore the foil open with your teeth—remember that?—maybe you damaged it, I don’t know. When it all comes down to it, does it even matter how it happened? Isn’t it more important that it did?’

  ‘I’m not marrying you.’

  She snorted, an exceedingly unladylike snort. ‘Did I ask you to marry me? I don’t think so. That’s not why I’m here. I came to tell you the baby is yours. That’s all I came to do. And now I’ve discharged my duty in that department, and I’ll let you get back to your life. Thanks for listening.’

  She headed back to the car she’d left idling in the driveway and panic set in. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘I’m leaving.’

  ‘But you can’t just drop a bombshell like that and walk away. You can’t just leave.’

  ‘Watch me.’

  ‘No!’ he called behind her. ‘Sophie, wait!’

  Her back stiffened. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because you’re pregnant. And, if what you say is true, you’re having my baby.’

  She turned her head, giving him a withering stare that defied him to doubt her, one more time. ‘You’re not actually telling me anything I don’t already know.’

  He raked a hand through his hair. ‘For God’s sake, Sophie. If this is true, there are things we need to discu
ss. What are you going to do? What do you want?’

  She shook her head. ‘That’s simple. One, I’ve decided to have the baby. And two, for the record, I don’t want anything. So, if you’ll excuse me?’

  She slid in behind the wheel. He watched her reverse down the driveway and followed her drive down the road until long after the little car had disappeared from view. He was still standing there rooted to the spot when his phone buzzed. Penelope’s number. Great, that was all he needed. But when he answered, it was Min, fresh from her piano lesson.

  ‘Fat Cat had kittens!’ Min squealed. ‘He’s a girl! When can I see them?’

  Min chattered on so excitedly Nick only had to make monosyllabic responses, which was just as well, because his brain was still too busy processing everything that had happened today to be able to form a coherent sentence. So much for Min’s supposedly male desexed cat. And soon, Min wouldn’t only have kittens to keep her occupied, but a new brother or sister. And Nick would have a new son or daughter.

  Bloody hell, and he’d talked himself into believing Sophie had come around to tell him she wanted to renew their affair. But she’d wanted nothing from him, especially not that witless confession that he’d like to sleep with her again. God, had he really admitted that?

  She was having his baby and she wanted nothing from him. Nothing at all.

  He thought about another time and another woman presenting him with the news that she was pregnant and his gut twisted.

  There was a reason he never wanted to get married again.

  And women were a big part of it.

  25

  Sophie

  Well, that went well. Not. Sophie gave a sigh of relief as she flopped on the sofa, never more grateful that her mum had left her this place to use after her marriage to Dirk. ‘Just in case things don’t work out,’ she’d joked, and it had been a joke because she and Dirk were rock solid, and Sophie had known that her mum only had her welfare at heart. She’d never otherwise be able to afford a place on her own on her teacher’s salary.

  Her mum’s two-bedroom townhouse would be perfect, so long as her mum didn’t mind her turning the second bedroom into a nursery, and given Dirk had scored an appointment to Geneva for two years, Sophie couldn’t see her objecting.