The Guilt Trip(16)

His discomfort is enough to stop her from saying that they couldn’t get up the stairs quick enough, the pair of them breathless from the sudden interruption and the full-on exertion needed to get out of the lounge before the boys piled in. And that it was only when they had collapsed giggling behind the closed door of their bedroom that Rachel remembered she’d left her knickers on the sofa.

“You forget how it used to be, before kids, is all I’m saying,” she says.

“So, normal service resumes once they leave home, does it?” says Paige.

“It’s better than normal.” Rachel smiles.

“Your Chloe will be off to college before too long, won’t she?” asks Ali, her eyes wide, both literally and metaphorically.

“That’s the plan,” says Noah, crossing his fingers.

“Is that you wishing for your daughter’s success, or the promise of more blow jobs?” says Ali, laughing hysterically.

Noah smiles and looks at Will. “I’m afraid to say that once you’re pronounced man and wife, you won’t know what a blow job is. Oral sex and marriage don’t make for good bedfellows.”

“We’re never going to let that side of our relationship go,” says Ali, rubbing her hand up and down Will’s thigh. “Not even when we have children.”

Paige snorts. “You won’t have a choice. As soon as you have kids, you’re in for eighteen years of worrying whether they’re going to walk in.”

Ali shakes her head vehemently.

“You mark my words,” says Paige, laughing at her naivety. “Your sex life will be confined to unspontaneous fumblings under a duvet when you would both far rather go to sleep.”

“We’ll always make time for each other,” says Ali, kissing Will on the lips.

“Then I suggest you don’t have kids,” says Paige.

“We want them as soon as possible,” says Will, looking at Ali. “Don’t we?”

She nods frantically. “We’re going to start trying as soon as we’re married.”

“On our wedding night?” asks Will, laughing.

“Deal,” says Ali, putting her hand out for Will to shake.

“I can’t wait to be a dad,” says Will. “I’ve never been jealous of Jack for anything, apart from when he became a father. That’s the only part of my life that I regret; that I didn’t have children earlier.”

“Oh, babe,” says Ali, leaning into him. “There’s still time.”

“What if I’ve left it too late? No one knows how easy or difficult it’s going to be until they start trying. What if it takes years?”

“Well, good thing we’ve got years on our side,” says Ali.

He looks at her, panicked. “But we are going to start trying straight away, aren’t we?”

“Yes, of course, honey,” says Ali, as if he were a small child.

Will pulls himself up and takes a deep breath. “Honestly, if I was never able to experience what you guys have with Josh and Chloe, I don’t know what I’d do.”

“Do they get along?” asks Ali, seemingly wanting to change the subject. “Your two, I mean. There can’t be that big a gap between them.”

Noah nods. “It’s just under two years,” he says, looking to Rachel for confirmation. “They used to be really tight, but have gradually grown apart as the teenage years wreaked havoc on them.”

“They used to be like brother and sister,” remembers Paige.

Rachel coughs, as her wine goes down the wrong way. “They still get along, but there’s just a bit of awkwardness there now.”

“That’ll change again, no doubt,” says Will. “In the next few years, once they come out the other side of university.”

Ali’s eyes widen. “Oh my God!” she squeals excitedly. “What if they end up together?”

“Er, I don’t think so,” muses Rachel, almost to herself.

“Excuse me,” says Paige. “Are you saying my daughter’s not good enough for your son?”

“No,” says Rachel, forcing a laugh. “I’m just saying that I don’t think that will happen.”

“Why would it be such a bad idea?” asks Paige.

“It would just be weird. They’ve grown up with one another. It’d be like getting together with your best friend.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” says Paige, thoughtfully. “It’d be the modern-day equivalent of you and Noah getting together.”

“Exactly,” says Rachel, throwing her hands up in the air and shuddering for effect.

She’s grateful when the Dirty Dancing theme song starts playing through the patio speakers, and takes the opportunity to divert the increasingly uncomfortable conversation.

“Ah, this is our song,” she squeals, standing up and beckoning Jack, just like she did the first time they met on a crowded dance floor at an eighties night twenty years ago.

“I’m going to marry that man,” she’d said to her friend Cass, as she watched him dance the “Love Man” as well as she’d ever seen anyone do. With the exception of Patrick Swayze, of course.

“Yeah, you and every other girl in this place,” Cass had replied, laughing.