Cosy Christmas ✓

12 / home

When she was out of earshot, Connor glanced at Cass, who raised her eyebrows at him and pointed at him with her spatula.

"You know what'd work? Sex."

Connor pulled a face. "No."

"I promise you, every single list recommends it. Top way to naturally induce labour is to have sex, apparently. So have sex so she can have the freaking baby already. This is torture."

"You don't have to be here," he said, watching her out of the corner of his eye. "You can go home if you want. But I'm not sleeping with Posy just to send her into labour."

"Why not?" Cass shifted her weight onto one hip, her arms folded.

"Are you serious? Jesus, Cass. We haven't slept together and I don't want the first time to be now. That's just ... weird. Don't you dare suggest that to her either. I get the feeling she wouldn't take it very well." He let out a sigh, his energy waning as Posy's only seemed to increase, and he leant against the counter. "Just, make that really spicy, ok?"

"You must be the only guy in the world to be so repulsed by the idea of sex with his girlfriend," she muttered, returning to the pan, and Connor scoffed.

"I'm not repulsed by the idea of sleeping with her. But this is not how I want our first time to be, and it's not going to be. She'll go into labour when she's ready. Until then, well, we'll just have to wait."

Posy came back a minute later, dragging herself into the kitchen, and she pulled out a chair. Turning it round, she sat with her arms folded on the back and she rested her forehead on her arms. Connor stood behind her, hands on her back as he kneaded her skin the way his father had shown him, and Posy let out a murmur of appreciation as his gentle massage distracted her from her irritation.

"Sorry," she said, her voice quiet, and Connor shook his head.

"Don't be," he replied, and Cass met his eye over Posy's bowed head as she mouthed 'fuck her,' and Connor dropped his eyes, ignoring his sister. Another day was coming to a close, and Posy was no closer to meeting her child.

*

Cass headed home after the meal, almost too hot for Connor's tastebuds, even though he could take the heat, and Posy had laughed at the first mouthful, fanning her mouth and joking that if that didn't propel the baby out then nothing would. It wasn't long after eating that she let out a sigh Connor had come to recognise: it was a sigh that indicated she was ready for bed, preparing to haul herself up the stairs.

"Maybe tomorrow," she said to Connor as she sat on the edge of the sofa, finding the energy to stand. She had been trying to sleep for as long as possible each night, if only to spend less of the day trying to induce herself, and her mother had advised her to rest. Connor gave the same advice, but she took to it better when it came from someone who had been through the process before.

"Tomorrow's the day," Connor said, though he had been saying that every day since the first of January and they now teetered on the cusp of the seventh. He finished his tea and left the empty mug on the coffee table, on top of a ring-stained newspaper, and he eased Posy closer to him. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"This," he said, and she laughed.

"It's not like it's your fault."

"I know," he said, shrugging, "but I'm sorry there's nothing I can do."

Posy's expression softened into a smile and she kissed him, her lips lingering on his for a few seconds longer than usual. "The fact that you're here is more than enough," she said. "See you in the morning."