Free Tempting Fate by Jane Green

worked. Can you believe it?’
    No, thinks Gabby sadly. She can’t.
    Claire turns her head slightly to watch the streets flash by outside the car window, before speaking, as if reading Gabby’s mind. ‘You always said you wantedanother child. You’re younger than me; you could still do it. Imagine if you and I were pregnant together! It would be so much easier if I had someone my age going through it.’
    ‘I can’t,’ Gabby says quietly. ‘I wish I could. I wanted it so badly, but it just isn’t meant to be.’
    ‘Who knows?’ Claire turns back to her with a smile. ‘Accidents can happen. And there’s always IVF.’
    ‘Not when your husband’s had a vasectomy.’
    Claire’s eyes open wide. ‘Elliott had a vasectomy? Oh God. I had no idea. And you were okay with that?’
    Gabby pauses before answering. She wasn’t okay with it then, and she isn’t okay with it now. But there is nothing she can do about it, and the best she can hope for is to learn to accept it.
    ‘It is what it is,’ she says lightly, ignoring the pain that wraps itself around her heart.
    In the waiting room, Gabby flicks through
Parenting
magazine, not taking any of it in – she has moved so far away from babies, and toddlers, and micro-managing her children’s lives in a bid to be the best mother, produce the best children.
    How different she would be now, she thinks sadly. How much better, in so many respects.
    Her phone buzzes. A text from Elliott:

Just telling my wife
how much I love her …

    She smiles and texts back:

Love you more
xxx

    Instead of putting her phone away in her bag again she decides to play a game of Words with Friends, and just as she does so a black strip appears at the top of her screen announcing she has received an email.

From: [email protected]

    Her heart jumps with excitement as she scans the message and she is unaware of the delighted smile now stretching from ear to ear.

To: Gabby
Subject: To be continued …

Gabby – what an unexpected and truly great surprise it was to meet you the other day. You turned a boring business trip into what felt like a much-needed, fun-filled break. Every time I think of your sparkling green eyes I start to smile – we could all do with more friends who make us feel like that. I hope your husband made it home safely and had fun with your girls.
Life here in Malibu is as dull as ever – sand, sun, surf. It’s good to be home, although I always find myself yearning for the changing seasons when I’ve been to New England. I should have brought back a bag of white and pink blossom to put in a bowl on the table – it might have done the trick.
As it stands, I have to come back in a couple of weeks, and was hoping we could grab another drink.

Take care.
M x

    Gabby’s face lights up as she reads, rereads, rereads again. Is he flirting? What does this mean? No. Impossible. He says quite specifically he could do with more friends … but … ‘sparkling green eyes’? Who says that if they’re not interested? Gabby! She sits up straight, shaking her head. What are you doing? You’re married. There’s nothing inappropriate in this email, yet it feels … inviting. Exciting.
    She reads it again, not noticing Claire until she is standing right in front of her.
    ‘What on earth are you reading?’ says Claire. ‘You look like you’re about to explode with joy.’
    ‘Oh. Nothing,’ Gabby says. ‘Just an email from a friend.’
    ‘Really? Because you look like you’ve won the lottery.’
    ‘I’m fine.’ Gabby puts her phone away. ‘So tell me, how was it? What did the doctor say?’
    It is hard to concentrate on the way home. Gabby finds her thoughts drifting back to the email as Claire talks; she desperately wants to reach into her bag and read it again.
    She drops Claire off, declining to come in for coffee, before driving straight home, where she can read the email in solitude.

Dear Matt,

    She stops typing then goes back to delete it. Not dear. He