The Last Goodbye by Caroline Finnerty

hopefully things will settle down soon for the boys’ sake.”
“Well, it’s going to be tough – I hope you know that?”
“Kate, please, I know things are going to get worse before they get better but isn’t it better for the boys to have parents who are happy instead of making each other miserable?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
“Oh Kate, just for once can you not at least try to be happy for me?” she said wearily before storming off into the kitchen.
I had to admit that this really had shocked me. This was the last thing I’d expected. I was obviously happy for Nat that he loved her enough to choose her over his family but, on the other hand, there was a family out there that had just been ripped apart because of her and it was hard to jump up and down to celebrate about it.
The rest of the morning went by with Nat and me barely speaking to each other. When I was going up to the deli at lunchtime, I offered to buy her a sandwich but she said she would pick something up later. So I went and bought my sandwich and took it to the park to eat it.
We didn’t really say much to each other for the rest of the afternoon. I heard her and Will on the phone making arrangements for him to get keys cut so I got stuck into tidying up the press release that I had drafted before sending it out. I needed to check with Nat to confirm if one of the photographers who had been a bit indecisive about coming on board had made up his mind yet.
“Has Darryl Jones come back to you yet?” I said when she was finished on the phone.
“Nope.” Her eyes were fixated on the brochure in front of her.
“He’s not interested then?”
“Nope.”
“So he’s definitely not going to do it?” I asked.
“That’s what I said, didn’t I?”
“All right! I was just checking.”
It was uncharacteristic of her to be snappy with me and I didn’t like it. She was my best friend but lately we just seemed to be constantly at each other’s throats and it was all because of Will. I was glad that I had to leave early anyway that day because I had a check-up in the hospital.
“Okay, well, I’m off so I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I said, picking up my satchel and slinging it around my neck.
“Bye.” She didn’t even bother to look up at me.
I met Ben outside the hospital and we walked to the antenatal clinic together. We sat down on the plastic seats in the waiting room and waited to be called. When I told him what had happened, he couldn’t believe it either.
“What?” He was as stunned as I was. “He left his wife and kids for Nat?”
“Yep.”
“So that’s it now? They’re shacked up together in Nat’s place?”
I nodded.
“Well, I hope Nat knows what she’s letting herself in for! The whole thing could get really messy if things get bitter. He’ll be dragged through the courts, custody battles, the lot!”
“I know, that’s what I’m afraid of – you know what Nat is like – she’s so soft, she’d never be able for anything like that.”
“Well, you can bet your house on it that his wife is going to take him to the cleaners and screw him for every last penny.”
“If we had a house,” I sighed wearily. “I can’t say I blame her though.”
All was going well with Baby Pip – she was growing away and doing everything she was supposed to do. It really was amazing every time to see her. I could never get bored of watching her. I could see her practising her swallowing. Her arm was over her eyes.
“I think your baby is a little camera-shy today,” our sonographer said.
Ben was leaning forward, studying the screen intently.
“Stop trying to peek at the sex!” I said.
He sat back on the chair again. “I can’t help it. It’s killing me not knowing!”

Chapter 13
“C’mon, we’d better make a start at hanging some of these photos.” I sighed wearily. The exhibition was taking place the following day and we liked to have the photos up the day before so we could spend the day itself doing all the