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By Root 903 0

the wallpaper and sanding the wooden floors, had left hours earlier. The rolls of new paper, chosen by Fenn and Chloe and delivered that afternoon, were stacked in a corner of the room along with a dozen cans of paint in assorted shades of sage-green, lavender and saxe-blue. Between them, choosing the colour scheme had been an effortless process. They shared the same tastes to an astonishing degree. When Chloe had finished browsing through a foot-thick book of curtain samples she had pointed to the exact swatch of silvery-green material that Fenn had decided on himself.

`It's going to be great,' she told him happily. `All you have to find now are the rugs.'

`Chinese. I was going to have a look in Harrods on Sunday.' Fenn paused. `I don't suppose…?'

`I'd love to,' said Chloe. `Honestly, I'm enjoying every minute of this. I won't know what to do with myself when it's finished.'

Fenn felt much the same way. Soon he was going to run out of legitimate reasons to invite Chloe round to his flat. He sighed inwardly, recalling the telephone call he had received last night from his sister. Tina, three years older than him and so blunt she made Miranda sound diplomatic, lived in New Zealand and hadn't been back to Britain for over five years. For this reason, when she had demanded to know what the bloody hell he was doing renting a flat in snotty Holland Park, Fenn had judged it safe to tell her.

Ten thousand miles, that was far enough.

Besides, if he didn't tell someone, he might actually explode.

`Okay, you want the truth? Because there's this girl I know, and she lives in Notting Hill, in the same house as my salon junior. And giving the junior a lift home from work gives me the chance to see this other girl.'

Tina, predictably, snorted with laughter.

`And if you'd moved to Hampstead you wouldn't have been able to do that? Jesus, Fenn, you're priceless. Spending an absolute fortune moving into a flat you don't even like… that's the maddest thing I ever heard. If you're so keen on this girl, wouldn't it be simpler to just ask her out on a date?'

Great idea, now why didn't I think of that? Smiling to himself, Fenn shook his head.

`Can't do it.'

`Of course you can! Blimey, you've been out with, like, a million girls. You must know the routine by now.' `It's not that straightforward.'

`Oh, I get it. You mean she's married. Fenn, you plonker. Who needs that kind of grief?'

`She isn't married. Well, okay, technically she still is, but they're separated.' Fenn paused. `The thing is, she's pregnant.'

There, he'd done it at last. And what a relief to finally say it aloud, after bottling it up for weeks.

`Jesus Christ!' shrieked Tina down the phone. `You got her pregnant and her husband found out? No wonder he left her!'

`Tina, hang on a second-'

`And you aren't interested in actually marrying her yourself but you want to keep in touch for the sake of the baby. Oh, now it all begins to make sense. So you're going to be a dad,' she marvelled. `Bloody hell, this is a turn-up for the books. You do realise it's going to cost you zillions in child support?'

`It's not my baby,' said Fenn, when he was able to get a word in.

A long and expensive silence ensued. He'd never heard Tina at a loss for words before.

`Fuck a duck, Fenn,' she groaned at last. `So whose kid is it?'

`Her husband's.'

`You're in love with some girl who's pregnant with somebody else's baby. Now I know you're mad.' `Thanks.'

`What's her name?'

`Chloe.'

`And how does Chloe feel about this?' Tina's tone was cutting.

`She doesn't know.'

`So what are you going to do?'

What could he do? It was hardly the most normal situation in the world.

Frankly, it was bizarre.

`I don't know.'

`Any more thoughts about the bedroom?'

`What?' Chloe's words brought Fenn back to the present with a thud.

`Curtains or blinds, you haven't decided yet.' She pushed

her fringe out of her eyes. `Come on, let's take another look.'

Without wanting to, Fenn replayed in his mind the rest of last night's conversation with his sister.

`Drop her,' Tina had commanded. `Drop her