Free Who's That Girl by Alexandra Potter Page B

seen The Sea Inside ?'
    'We weren't diving off rocks into the sea, Charlotte. We were messing around on inflatable lilos.'
    'Accidents can still happen,' I warn her.
    'On a lilo?' she gasps incredulously.
    The kettle boils and flicks off and she starts pulling out cups and looking for teabags.
    'Do you have any chamomile?' I ask.
    'Only Earl Grey,' she replies. 'Go on, live dangerously,' she teases, seeing my expression. 'I remember the days when you didn't even know what herbal-tea was, and you certainly wouldn't have drunk it. In fact, you wouldn't drink anything back then unless it was alcoholic'
    I frown and ignore her.
    'So how's Miles?' she asks, throwing me a look as she reaches for the kettle. Vanessa is not what you'd call Miles's biggest fan. She's never actually said anything, but she doesn't have to. Those looks say it all.
    'Great,' I enthuse. 'We had dinner last night at this really nice new gastropub.'
    'So when are you two going to consolidate ?' she teases, reaching for the wet-wipes and cleaning Ruby and Sam's faces.
    I told Vanessa the story. Now I so wish I hadn't. She's never stopped joking about it.
    'We're waiting for the property market to… er…' Shit. I have no clue what we're supposed to be waiting for the property market to do. I think I probably zoned out at that bit. '… do something,' I finish vaguely.
    'Right,' says Vanessa, raising an eyebrow. I fidget uncomfortably. 'And when will that be?' She passes me a cup of tea.
    I wrack my brains for some recollection of what Miles and I have talked about. We've talked about this for hours. Hours and hours and hours in fact. Which is weird, as I'm sort of having difficulty remembering any of the key points.
    'Well, it's impossible to predict,' I say finally, and feel a beat of pleasure at how wise this sounds.
    'But we are going to look at a house this week. Apparently, it's just come on the market and it's amazing.' I'm quoting Beatrice, who quoted Miles, so that has to be right. Vanessa looks impressed. 'Where is it?'
    'Um…' I pause. I remember looking at the Post-it note with the address, but for some reason I didn't take it in. 'London,' I reply brightly, then before she can fire any more questions at me, continue quickly, 'But we're not in any hurry to move in together. After all, this way we get to catch up on our sleep during the week, so at the weekends we can have lots of sex. It's the perfect arrangement really,' I add, though I'm not quite sure whether it's to convince Vanessa or myself.
    'Sleep? Sex?' Vanessa wrinkles her brow as she passes Ruby and Sam a couple of strawberries.
    'What are those again?'
    I know she's joking, kind of, as she says this kind of stuff all the time, but I detect an edge to her voice that I've never heard before.
    'Well, that's the idea ,' I say, quickly backtracking.
    There's a whole chapter in one of my self-help books about how a couple's sex life can suffer after the birth of a child. Apparently, you can become highly sensitive about the subject of sex, so I should probably be sensitive around Vanessa. Just in case.
    'Though if you want to know the truth, usually one of us ends up falling asleep in front of Location, Location, Location ,' I admit. Well, I don't want her feeling bad or anything.
    'Before Julian and I had the kids, we were at it like rabbits,' she replies matter-of-factly.
    'You were?' I ask, my voice coming out all high-pitched. I look at her, feeling slightly shocked. Vanessa and I don't really talk about sex. We did a bit when we were younger and having flings, but not once we got into proper relationships.
    'Oh, absolutely. We couldn't keep our hands off each other,' she sighs, sinking down on to a kitchen stool and looking wistful. 'We were always at it.'
    I feel a stab of both alarm and curiosity. 'Like how often?' I ask casually.
    'Ooh, I don't know…'
    If she says three times a week, that's OK. Miles and I have been known to have sex three times a week.
    Maybe once.
    '… every