Free The Two Week Wait by Sarah Rayner Page B

journalist. This should give him good copy, she
thinks.
    She shakes her head, despairing. ‘I’m not stupid. It’s clear you’ve got some kind of issue with this whole thing. It’s classic avoidance.’
    ‘I wish you would not . . . be like a counsellor with me,’ mutters Sofia, eyes fixed on the floor.
    ‘What else am I supposed to do, when you can’t be honest enough to tell me what you’re really thinking? You won’t even look at me, for God’s sake.’
    Sofia glances up. Those big brown eyes . . . Lou is so susceptible to them, but she’s determined to resist.
    ‘Why do we not go to look at the show?’ suggests Sofia. ‘We are here now.’
    ‘Yeah, guess we could.’ Lou picks up her bag, feels a twinge across her tummy. ‘I want to find out more about sperm donation.’
    ‘ Si, si .’
    There’s a limit to how much Lou can deal with in such a public place.

9
    ‘So, do you seriously think you’re going to do this egg-sharing thing, then?’ asks Anna.
    Lou doesn’t wish to commit so fast. ‘Maybe.’
    She is sitting in the passenger seat of Anna’s Saab: a spacious convertible with an expensive stereo and upholstery that still smells new. The dashboard before her is so futuristic Lou
can’t begin to work out what all the lights, dials and numbers mean.
    Sofia leans between the two front seats to join in the conversation. ‘Your mother will . . . what is that word you use to describe when she gets upset?’
    ‘Freak,’ says Lou. You seem pretty freaked too, she thinks, but lets it go.
    ‘Would you tell your mother?’ asks Anna.
    ‘I don’t even know if I’m going to go that route.’ She wishes Anna hadn’t brought the subject up.
    ‘I think it’s a weird thing to do,’ says Sofia.
    ‘I don’t think it’s weird at all,’ says Anna. The traffic has been stop-start since they left the West End; they’ve come to another halt at the junction by Harrods.
Dozens of people hurry to cross the road while the lights are red. ‘I think it’s rather lovely.’
    ‘OK, maybe “weird” is not the right word, sometimes my English is not so good . . . But imagine if you share your eggs then a child comes to find you when they are
eighteen.’
    ‘That’s a long way in the future,’ says Anna. ‘What about the here and now?’
    Lou fights to keep her voice steady. ‘Exactly. I like the idea of helping another woman have a baby.’ She wants to tackle her issues with Sofia once they’re alone, not heading
home on the A4 with Anna driving, yet she feels too strongly to keep silent. ‘Imagine what heartache some women must be experiencing if they can’t have a child. My eggs could change
someone’s life.’
    ‘I think you’re romanticizing it,’ says Sofia.
    Lou is hurt. That she’s romantic is not something her girlfriend should object to.
    ‘Having children is not everything,’ Sofia continues.
    ‘I know it’s not the be-all and end-all, but nevertheless, for many women – and men – it’s a major part of being an adult.’ Lou uses the word pointedly.
    ‘Even if you don’t believe having children is the most important thing in life, and I don’t, actually – I mean, look at me – surely you can appreciate that for some
people it really matters?’ asks Anna. She edges the car forward to the next set of lights, where yet more shoppers are crossing the road. ‘You can’t write it off just because
it’s not your priority.’
    ‘I’m not,’ says Sofia.
    ‘It sounded like that,’ says Anna. ‘I think sharing eggs seems very altruistic.’
    Perhaps the fact she initiated this conversation isn’t so awful, Lou thinks. Anna’s expressing what I feel without my having to say it myself.
    ‘It is still about the cost,’ says Sofia. ‘The donor may not be taking the money, but it means treatment that would otherwise be very expensive is free. Who is to say that
doctor is objective? Of course he is not. His suit looked very nice, yet there he is standing and